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THL  SECOND  COMING 
OF  CHRI5T 


15  IT  PRE-MILLLNNIAli? 


By 
r.  j.  g.  Mcknight,  Ph.D. 


WUkinsbur£,  Pa. 
1915 


THL  SFXOND  COMING 
OF  CHRIST        /^ 

(       MAY  2  (U915 
15  IT  PRt-MILLtNNIAL  ?W, 

7  ftl^ynX^z 


By 

r.  j.  g.  Mcknight,  Ph.D. 


Wilkinsbur§,  Pa. 
1915 

/OS 


Copyright,   1915 

r.  j.  g.  Mcknight 


2fo 

Mt$  3Failj*r 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  Page. 

I.     A  Statement  of  the  Problem 7 

II.     The  Origin  of  the  Pre-Millennial  Idea...  10 

III.  Pre-Millennialism  in  the  Early  Church...  12 

IV.  Has  Pre-Millennialism  a  Scriptural  Basis.  18 
V.     Exegesis  of  Revelation  XX  4-6 20 

VI.     The  Pre-Millennial  View  of  the  Bride  of 

Christ    36 

VII.     Pre-Millennialists   and   the   Doctrine   of   a 

General  Judgment     43 

VIII.     The  Restoration  of  Material  Sacrifices...  47 
IX.     Pre-Millennialism  Involves  a  Second  Hu- 
miliation      52 

X.     Discredits  the  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  .  56 

XL     Essentially  Pessimistic   60 

XII.     Views  of  the  Commentators 66 

XIII.  Modern  Evangelists  and  Pre-Millennialism  70 

XIV.  Conclusion    "]2 


PREFACE. 

""THE  title  of  this  brochure  suggests  its  purpose. 
It  is  designed  to  show  that  the  Pre-Millennial 
view  of  Christ's  Second  Coming  is  without  any  war- 
rant whatsoever.  The  Pre-Millennialist  has  become 
a  propagandist.  If  he  is  very  careful  to  quote  no 
farther,  he  can  say,  and  that  truly,  "This  one  thing  I 
do."  In  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  through  the 
press,  in  the  classroom,  he  calls  "to  them  that  pass 
by,  who  go  right  on  their  ways :  Whoso  is  simple, 
let  him  turn  in  hither." 

Consequently  most  of  the  literature  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  it  appears  from  time  to  time,  wears  the  pale 
cast  of  Pre-Millennial  thought.  This  ancient  fallacy 
has  been  refuted  times  without  number  but,  unfor- 
tunately, these  refutations  are  not  readily  accessible 
to  the  general  reader.  With  the  exception  of  the 
Bible,  and  one  or  two  standard  works  of  uninspired 
men,  there  is  very  little  literature  in  wide  circulation 
that  exposes  the  weaknesses  and  the  dangers  of  the 
Pre-Millennial  theory. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  present  writer  to  set 
forth  the  evidence  against  Pre-Millennialism  in  brief 
compass.  Many  arguments  have  been  omitted.  This 
little  pamphlet  has  been  written,  primarily,  in  the  hope 
of  strengthening  the  convictions  of  those  who  have 
not  been  charmed  by  the  Pre-Millennial  enchanters. 
One  would  be  sanguine  indeed  to  hope  that  any  Pre- 
Millennialist  could  be  convinced  of  his  error.  Be- 
sides, "convince"  posits  so  much. 


What  the  advocates  of  the  Pre-Millennial  view 
have  to  say  for  their  theory  the  author  has  read  with 
as  much  patience  as  a  strict  exegesis  of  the  Scriptures 
on  the  subject  of  long-suffering  would  seem  to  re- 
quire. The  student  who  sets  himself  the  task  of  read- 
ing Jesus  is  Coming,  by  "W.  E.  B.,"  will  be  at  no  loss 
to  understand  what  patience  is  capable  of  doing  when 
she  performs  her  perfect  work.  The  material  which 
has  gone  into  the  following  pages  has  been  gathered 
wherever  it  was  to  be  found,  and  the  author  wishes 
to  make  due  acknowledgement  of  all  the  help  he  has 
received  from  those  who  have  preceded  him  in  this 
field.  He  is  especially  indebted  to  the  volumes  pre- 
pared by  the  late  Dr.  David  Brown  and  the  late  Dr. 
D.  MacDill.  The  Scriptural  quotations  are  according 
to  the  American  Revision. 

R.  J.  G.  M. 


Copies  of  this  pamphlet  may  be  obtained 
by  addressing  the  author,  Wilkinsburg,  Pa. 
10    cents   a    copy.      One    dollar   a   dozen. 


I.    A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  PROBLEM. 

/^HRIST  has  given  to  his  people  many  distinct  and 
definite  promises  that  he  will  return  to  the 
world.  This  promised  return  is  called  the  "Second 
Advent"  or  "The  Second  Coming."  Christians  agree 
as  to  the  fact  of  the  Second  Coming,  but  they  are  far 
from  agreement  as  to  the  time  of  that  event  and  its 
significance  for  the  world. 

There  are  those  who  believe  that  Christ  will  re- 
turn to  the  world  at  least  a  thousand  years  before  the 
end  of  time,  and  that  he  will  establish  a  terrestrial 
kingdom.  They  believe  that  the  Jerusalem  of 
Palestine  will  be  the  seat  of  his  government,  and 
that  there  the  throne  of  David  will  be  re-estab- 
lished. Upon  this  throne  Christ  will  sit  in  visible, 
bodily  form,  and  he,  together  with  those  of  the  saints 
who  shall  have  been  raised,  will  reign  over  a  world 
peopled  by  men  who  are  still  in  the  flesh,  and  who 
continue  to  follow  the  usual  pursuits  of  mankind. 
This  earthly  reign  of  our  Lord  will  continue  for  a 
thousand  years,  or  for  a  Millennium.  Because  those 
who  hold  this  view  fix  the  time  of  Christ's  return  or 
second  coming  before  the  Millennium,  they  are  known 
as  Pre-Millennialists. 

The  program  that  has  just  been  outlined  is  not 
presented  as  a  complete  statement  of  all  that  every 
Pre-Millennialist  believes  concerning  the  events  that 
are  to  attend  the  Second  Coming  or  the  conditions 
which   are  to  prevail   when   Christ  has   come   again. 

7 


3        THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

This  statement  is  framed  to  include  only  those  basic 
elements  of  the  Pre-Millennial  view  to  which  all  of 
its  defenders  would  freely  subscribe. 

Indeed,  the  points  of  disagreement  among  Pre- 
Millennialists  themselves  are  more  numerous  than  the 
points  of  agreement.  While  they  all  agree  that  Christ 
and  the  saints  will  reign  over  men  who  are  still  in  the 
flesh,  they  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  character  of  these 
men.  Some  think  that  those  who  constitute  the  sub- 
jects of  this  kingdom  will  all  be  righteous;  while 
others  affirm  just  as  confidently  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  world  during  the  Millennium  will  number 
among  them  both  righteous  and  wicked.  There  are 
other  details  which  even  the  later  Prophetic  Confer- 
ences have  not  been  able  to  determine  absolutely. 
Will  the  seat  of  government  be  "in  the  air"  or  on 
earth?  Will  Christ's  throne  be  visible  or  invisible? 
Will  the  reign  of  Christ  be  absolute  or  partial?  To 
these  questions  and  to  many  others,  Pre-Millennialists 
give  conflicting  answers. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  define  Pre-Millen- 
nialism  by  those  things  and  only  those  things  that  are 
essential  to  the  doctrine,  lest  injustice  be  done  to 
those  whose  program  for  the  Millennium  does  not 
harmonize  in  detail  with  that  which  has  been  ap- 
proved by  Pre-Millennialists  as  a  class. 

To  state  it  briefly,  then,  Pre-Millennialism  is  a 
term  used  to  describe  the  view  that  Christ  will  return 
to  the  earth,  to  reign  with  his  saints  over  the  world, 
for  at  least  a  thousand  years  before  the  end  of  time, 
the  general  resurrection  and  the  final  judgment. 


On  the  other  hand  there  are  those  who  believe 
just  as  firmly  in  the  fact  of  the  Second  Coming,  but 


IS   IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  9 

who  believe  that  Scripture  teaches  that  the  Second 
Coming  will  mark  the  end  of  time,  that  the  Millen- 
nium and  all  other  events  which  concern  the  earthly 
existence  of  man  shall  have  then  passed  into  history, 
and  that  the  purpose  of  his  coming  will  be  "to  give 
to  every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be."  Those 
who  hold  this  view  fix  the  time  of  the  Second  Coming 
after  the  Millennium  and  are  therefore  known  as 
Post-Millennialists. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  these  two  conceptions 
of  the  Second  Coming  are  essentially  antithetical. 
They  cannot  be  harmonized.  If  one  be  true,  the  other 
must  be  false.  Both  of  these  views  cannot  be  scrip- 
tural. All  Christians  are  agreed  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  Second  Coming  is  a  scriptural  doctrine.  If,  then, 
it  be  found  upon  investigation  that  Scripture  warrants 
one  of  these  views,  it  will  be  found  at  the  same  time 
that  it  condemns  the  other.  Of  these  two  opposed 
views  the  one  that  is  most  persistently  advocated  to- 
day is  the  Pre-Millennial  view. 


10       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


II.    THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE 
PRE-MILLENNIAL    IDEA. 

The  Pre-Millennial  idea  is  of  Jewish  origin  and 
never  loses  its  Jewish  features.  Most  of  the  heathen 
nations  have  regarded  the  Golden  Age  as  belonging 
to  the  past;  the  Jews  located  the  Golden  Age  in  the 
future.  For  them  it  was  the  Millennium.  Among 
the  Jews  the  conception  of  a  glorious  Millennium 
took  its  rise  in  the  account  of  creation.  They  began 
with  the  idea  that  "a  day  with  the  Lord  is  as  a  thou- 
sand years."  God  labored  six  days  in  creation.  He 
rested  on  the  seventh  day.  Accordingly  the  world 
would  continue  in  its  natural  course  for  six  thousand 
years  and  then  would  come  a  Sabbatical  Millenary,  a 
seventh  millennium  of  triumph  and  peace.  This  mil- 
lennium was  to  be  marked  by  the  supremacy  of  the 
Jews ;  their  Temple  was  to  become  the  center  of  the 
worship  of  the  whole  race;  the  throne  of  David  was 
to  be  restored  and  their  Messiah  was  to  sit  upon  it  in 
regal  splendor.  This  is  still  the  hope  of  the  Jews. 
They  look  for  Immanuel  to  come  and  sit  upon  a 
material  throne  that  is  to  be  set  up  in  Jerusalem,  and 
from  this  throne  Messiah  will  reign  over  the  world. 

This  is  precisely  the  conception  of  the  Pre-Mil- 
lennialist.  In  the  early  church  Pre-Millennialists 
were  known  as  Chiliasts,  and  they  were,  very  proper- 
ly, charged  with  Judaizing  tendencies,  because  they 
attempted  to  mould  Christianity  into  Jewish  forms. 
The  points  of  agreement  between  the  Jews  and  the 


IS    IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  11 

Pre-Millennialists  are  patent.  Both  Jews  and  Pre- 
Millennialists  affirm  that  the  Messiah's  Kingdom  has 
not  yet  been  established  and  that  He  has  not  yet  be- 
gun to  reign.  "And  it  (The  Kingdom  of  Christ)  will 
be  future  until  Jesus,  having  received  the  Kingdom, 
shall  return  to  recompense  tribulation  to  those  who 
have  troubled  the  Church  and  sit  in  the  throne  of  his 
glory."*  With  this  compare  Acts  II :  34-36,  "The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand, 
till  I  make  thine  enemies  the  footstool  of  thy  feet. 
Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  therefore  know  assuredly, 
that  God  hath  made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ,  this 
Jesus  whom  ye  crucified."  He  was  on  the  throne 
when  Peter  spoke.  He  had  been  "made"  both  Lord 
and  Christ.  It  was  even  then  a  thing  of  the  past. 
Both  Jews  and  Pre-Millennialists  declare  that  all  of 
the  prophecies  which  concern  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Messiah  or  his  Kingship  are  yet  awaiting  fulfilment. 
Both  hold  that  the  fulfilment  will  be  absolutely  literalf 
even  to  the  rebuilding  of  the  Jewish  Temple  and  the 
restoration  of  the  bloody  sacrifices.  There  is  but  one 
point  in  which  there  is  any  vital  disagreement  be- 
tween Jews  and  Pre-Millennialists.  The  Jews  deny 
that  the  Messiah  has  come  the  first  time,  in  the  Incar- 
nation; the  Pre-Millennialists  accept  the  Gospel  rec- 
ord of  this  event. 


*W.  E.  B.     Jesus  is  Coming,  pp.  84-85. 
fMr.  Sunday  Sermon,  p.  10,  "The  pulling  down  of  Zion 
was  literal,  so  also  must  the  building  up." 


12      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


III.     PRE-MILLENNIALISM 
IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH. 

The  Pre-Millennialist  lays  much  stress  upon  the 
prevalence  of  Chiliasm  in  the  primitive  Church,  and 
the  conclusion  which  he  draws  is,  that  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  those  who  lived  so  near  the  time  of  the 
Apostles  could  not  have  held  any  unscriptural  views 
concerning  the  Second  Coming  of  Christ.  He  as- 
serts, moreover,  that  Chiliasm  was  the  universal  be- 
lief of  the  early  Church.  The  attention  of  the  reader 
may  be  called  at  this  point  to  some  facts  which  Pre- 
Millennialists  have  either  overlooked  or  perverted. 

Joseph  Mede,  who  was  a  Professor  of  Greek  at 
Cambridge,  and  an  ardent  Pre-Millennialist,  says: — 
"This  dogma  of  the  i  ooo  years  Regnum  was  the 
general  opinion  of  all  orthodox  Christians  in  the  age 
immediately  following  the  Apostles,  if  Justin  Martyr 
say  true."*  He  also  says : — "This  was  the  opinion  of 
the  whole  orthodox  Christian  Church  in  the  age  im- 
mediately following  the  death  of  St.  John,  as  Justin 
Martyr  expressly  affirmeth." 

What  Justin  Martyr  does  say  is  this: —  "I  and 
whatsoever  Christians  are  right  minded  in  all  things 
are  of  this  opinion  (Pre-Millennial)  ;  but  I  have  also 
showed  you  on  the  other  hand  that  many  Christians, 
who  are  of  pure  and  godly  doctrine,  do  not  acknowl- 
edge it."f     The  ardent  Pre-Millennialist,  Mede,  de- 


*Mede's  Works,  pp.  602,  771. 
■^Dialogus  cum  Tryphone,  c,  80. 


IS   IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  13 

liberately  corrupted  the  text  when  he  quoted  from 
Justin  Martyr.  He  boldly  inserted  a  negative  in  the 
clause — "Many  Christians  who  are  of  pure  and  godly 
doctrine,  do  not  acknowledge  it,"  and  made  it  read 
"Many  Christians  who  are  {not)  of  pure  and  godly 
doctrine,  do  not  acknowledge  it."  Of  course  it  is 
Mede's  text  and  not  the  words  of  Justin  Martyr  whicfi 
the  average  Pre-Millennialist  prefers  to  quote. 

Rev.  W.  Kelly,  of  England,  however,  although  a 
Pre-Millennialist,  says : —  "It  is  painful  that  such  a 
man  as  Mede  should  have  insisted  on  interpolating  a 
negative  in  the  statement  of  Justin.  The  fact  is  there 
is  not  the  slightest  manuscript  authority  for  the  in- 
sertion, and  the  internal  evidence  is,  in  my  judgment, 
decidedly  against  it."± 

Gibbon  is  brought  forward  in  support  of  the  as- 
sertion that  Chiliasm  was  the  universal  belief  of  the 
early  church.  Gibbon  follows  the  corrupted  text  of 
Mede,  but  he  also  says : —  "it  might  not  be  universally 
received"  !*  Then,  too,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Gibbon  was  a  sceptic,  and  that  he  always  lays  em- 
phasis on  anything  that  would  reflect  discredit  on  the 
Christian  religion.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  he  gives 
prominence  to  the  prevalence  of  Pre-Millennialism. 
But  it  is  noteworthy  that  Gibbon,  the  sceptic,  is  just 
a  trifle  more  careful,  not  to  say  conscientious,  than 
Mede,  the  Pre-Millennialist. 

Neander  also  is  cited  in  support  of  the  universal 
acceptance  of  Chiliasm  by  the  early  Church.  He 
does,  indeed,  speak  of  this  belief  as  widespread.  No 
one  denies  that  it  was.     But  he  says : —  "What  we 


^Lectures  on  Rev.,  p.  415,  note. 
♦Decline  and  Fall,  chap.   15. 


14      THE  SECOND  COMING  OFCHRIST. 

have  just  said  (of  Chiliasm),  however,  is  not  to  be 
so  understood  as  if  Chiliasm  had  ever  formed  a  part 
of  the  general  creed  of  the  church. "f 

It  has  been  shown,  then,  that  Justin  Martyr,  al- 
though he  himself  was  a  Chiliast,  declares  that  "many 
Christians,  who  are  of  pure  and  godly  doctrine,  do 
not  acknowledge  it."  If,  then,  there  were  "many 
Christians"  whose  doctrine  was  both  "pure  and  god- 
ly," who  did  not  acknowledge  it,  and  if  these 
Christians  lived  just  as  near  to  the  time  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  as  did  the  Pre-Millennial 
Christians,  might  the  conclusion  not  quite  as 
clearly  be  drawn,  that  the  Pre-Millennial  view  of  the 
Second  Coming  was  not  taught  by  Christ  and  the 
Apostles?  How  could  their  doctrine  be  described  as 
"pure  and  godly"  if  they  rejected  what  Christ  him- 
self taught?  According  to  the  witnesses  called  by  the 
Pre-Millennialists  themselves  Chiliasm  was  not  the 
universal  belief  of  the  early  church. 

Furthermore,  suppose  it  be  conceded,  for  the  mo- 
ment, that  it  was  universally  accepted  by  the  early 
church,  what  is  thereby  established?  Opposition  to 
the  evangelization  of  the  Gentiles  was,  at  a  time  earlier 
even  than  Justin  Martyr,  the  universal  belief  of  the 
church — at  least  more  nearly  so  than  Chiliasm  could 
ever  have  been.  Time  after  time,  even  in  Apostolic 
days,  Paul  was  compelled  to  correct  erroneous  views 
that  were  all  but  universally  held  by  the  early  Chris- 
tians. 

The  prevalence  of  an  opinion  even  among  Chris- 
tians is  by  no  means  conclusive  evidence  that  it  is  cor- 
rect.   To  so  many  minds  such  evidence  as  the  follow- 

fNeander's  Ch.  Hist.  Vol.  I,  p.  651. 


IS   IT   PRE-MILLENNIAL?  15 

ing  seems  to  be  conclusive : —  "Papias  was  the  disciple 
of  the  Apostle  John;  Irenaeus  was  the  disciple  of 
Polycarp,  who  was  a  disciple  of  John.  Papias  and 
Irenaeus  were  Pre-Millennialists.  Therefore  the  doc- 
trine of  Pre-Millennialism  is  an  Apostolic  doctrine." 
But  Peter  was  closer  to  the  source  of  truth  than  either 
Papias  or  Irenaeus.  Peter  was  a  disciple  of  Christ. 
Nevertheless,  within  a  short  time  after  the  ascension, 
Peter  had  fallen  into  grievous  error  concerning  the 
requirements  that  were  to  be  made  of  Gentile  converts. 
And  it  took  a  stern  rebuke  from  Paul  to  set  him  right. 
Again,  if  these  Post-Apostolic  Fathers  received 
their  conceptions  of  the  time  of  the  Second  Coming 
directly  from  the  Apostles,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  their  view  of  the  conditions  that  are  to  pre- 
vail in  the  Millennium  will  be  equally  infallible?  Would 
they  not  receive  both  conceptions  from  the  same 
source?  Irenaeus  says  of  the  Millennium: —  "The 
days  will  come  when  vines  will  grow,  each  having  10,- 
ooo  branches ;  each  branch  having  10,000  shoots ;  each 
shoot  10,000  clusters ;  each  cluster  10,000  grapes ;  and 
each  grape  yielding  25  measures  of  wine.  In  like 
manner,  a  grain  of  wheat  will  produce  10,000  heads ; 
each  head  having  10,000  grains ;  and  each  grain  pro- 
ducing 10,000  pounds  of  flour."*  The  Pre-Millennial 
brethren,  as  will  appear  later,  are  keen  for  literal  in- 
terpretation. Did  Irenaeus  get  this  straight  from  Poly- 
carp, and  did  Polycarp  get  it  directly  from  John,  and 
did  Christ  teach  John  that  in  the  Millennium  one  grain 
of  wheat  would  yield  500,000,000  tons  of  flour?  And, 
one  is  tempted  to  ask,  would  our  Pre-Millennial 
brethren  be   willing   to    follow    Irenaeus    and   Justin 

*Irenaeus,  Ad.  Her.  V:33. 


16      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

Martyr  just  as  implicitly  in  all  their  teachings  as  they 
do  in  their  teaching  concerning  the  Second  Coming? 

The  following  facts  are  set  down  for  those  who 
wish  to  make  a  more  extensive  study  of  the  history 
of  Pre-Millennialism.  Pre-Millennialism  is  approved 
by  the  Jewish  Talmud,  which  also  limits  the  resurrec- 
tion to  the  seed  of  Abraham  according  to  the  flesh. 
It  was  held  by  the  Ebionites  who  were  enemies  of  the 
early  Church.  Caius,  a  Roman  Presbyter,  of  the  sec- 
ond century  says  that  "the  Thousand  Years"  Kingdom 
was  a  vain  fable  invented  by  the  heretic  Cerinthus. 
Origen  condemns  this  "Jewish  interpretation"  of 
Scripture.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  Apollinaris,  and 
Basil  condemned  it.  Augustine  condemns  it.*  The 
the  great  ecclesiastical  confessions  condemn  it. 
Pre-Millennialism  was  condemned  in  the  orig- 
inal articles  of  the  Church  of  England  in  these 
words : —  "They  that  go  about  to  renew  the  fable  of 
the  heretics  called  the  Millennarii,  be  repugnant  to 
Holy  Scripture,  and  cast  themselves  headlong  into  a 
Jewish  dotage."f  The  Augsburg  Confession  con- 
demned it.$  The  Swiss  Confession  condemned  it.§ 
The  Westminster  Standards  condemned  it.  Pre-Mil- 
lennialism was  not  advocated  by  any  writer  of  repute 
in  the  16th  century.  Luther  and  Melancthon 
condemned  it.  Of  the  great  names  of  the  later 
centuries  in  the  field  of  theology  the  Pre-Millennialists 
claim  the  greater  number  as  representative  of  their 
doctrine.     Among  those  who  are    declared    to    have 


*Civ.  Dei,  XX 7. 
fArt.  XLI. 
JArt.  XVII. 
§Art.  XI. 


IS   IT   PRE-MILLENNIAL?  17 

favored  this  view  is  John  Calvin.  Let  us  get  his  opin- 
ion of  this  view  before  us  in  his  own  words.  He 
says: —  "Not  long  after  (the  days  of  Paul)  arose  the 
Millennarians,  who  limited  the  reign  of  Christ  to  a 
thousand  years.  Their  fiction  is  too  puerile  to  require 
or  deserve  refutation."*  Other  theologians  are  claimed 
by  the  Pre-Millennialists,  as  advocates  of  their  view, 
who  have  clearly  declared  themselves  as  opponents  of 
Pre-Millennialism.  This  is  the  result  either  of  ignor- 
ance or  of  a  deliberate  attempt  to  misrepresent  the 
facts.  Either  is  inexcusable,  and  the  latter  is  repre- 
hensible. The  final  court  of  appeal  is  the  Word  of 
God.  "Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  should 
preach  unto  you  any  gospel  other  than  that  which  we 
preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  anathema."' 

*Calvin's  Institutes,  Vol.  II,  Book  III,  Chap.  XXV,  Sec. 
V,  1902  Ed. 


18       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


IV.    HAS  PRE-MILLENNIALISM 
A     SCRIPTURAL     BASIS? 

There  is  a  serious  error  into  which  Pre-Millenni- 
alists  have  fallen  which  we  need  to  be  careful  to 
avoid  in  our  investigation  of  the  teachings  of  Scripture 
on  this  subject.  The  Pre-Millennialist  starts  his  in- 
vestigation with  the  conviction  that  Christ  is  to  return 
to  the  earth  to  reign  in  person  upon  a  material  throne 
for  a  thousand  years.  This  is  his  conception  of  the 
nature  of  the  Second  Coming.  He  finds  in  Scripture 
one  passage  which  seems  to  him  to  support  this  view. 
Upon  this  passage  he  founds  his  doctrine,  and  then 
he  reads  all  the  inferences  he  is  able  to  draw  from 
that  passage  back  into  every  passage  in  which  there  is 
any  reference  to  the  Second  Coming.  That  is,  he  re- 
gards all  the  passages  which  speak  of  the  Second  Com- 
ing at  all  as  evidence  that  his  own  particular  concep- 
tion of  the  time  and  circumstances  of  the  Second 
Coming  is  correct.  This  is  the  mistake  made  by  Mr. 
Sunday.  In  his  sermon  on  the  Second  Coming  he 
says : —  "The  Second  Coming  of  Christ  is  the  em- 
phatic doctrine  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  men- 
tioned and  referred  to  more  than  three  hundred  and 
fifty  times,  and  yet  the  majority  of  church  members 
never  heard  a  sermon  on  the  subject;  that  is  the 
reason  they  think  so  little  of  looking  into  the  matter 
themselves."* 

The  impression  given  is  that  there  are  three  hun- 


*Mr.  Sunday,  Sermon  on  the  Second  Coming,  p.  6. 


IS   IT    PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  19 

dred  and  fifty  passages  in  the  New  Testament  which 
teach  the  P re-Millennial  view  of  the  Second  Coming, 
and  that  the  ministers  have  been  unfaithful  in  deliv- 
ering the  message.  Is  it  the  P re-Millennial  view  of 
the  Second  Coming,  or  is  it  the  Second  Coming  that 
is  presented  so  often?  It  is  one  thing  to  preach  the 
doctrine  of  the  Second  Coming;  it  is  quite  another 
thing  to  preach  the  Pre-Millennial  view  of  that  event. 
Mr.  Sunday  implies,  he  practically  asserts,  that  no  one 
has  ever  heard  the  doctrine  of  the  Second  Coming 
preached  except  from  the  lips  of  a  Pre-Millennialist. 
One  soon  learns  not  to  expect  accuracy  from  Mr. 
Sunday,  but  such  a  statement  as  he  makes  is  nothing 
less  than  absurd.  The  doctrine  of  the  Second  Com- 
ing is  the  heart  of  every  evangelical  sermon. 

The  mention  of  the  Millennium,  that  is,  of  a 
period  of  a  thousand  years  during  which  the  saints 
are  to  reign  with  Christ,  occurs  in  but  one  passage  of 
Scripture — not  in  three  hundred  and  fifty  passages. 
The  more  intelligent  Pre-Millennialists  admit  that 
their  whole  theory  rests  ultimately  upon  this  one  pas- 
sage.   "This  is  the  seat  of  the  doctrine."* 


*Bickersteth:  Guide  p.  248. 


20      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


V.    REVELATION  XX:  4-6. 

"And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them, 
and  judgment  was  given  unto  them:  and  I  saw  the 
souls  of  them  that  had  been  beheaded  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  such  as 
worshipped  not  the  beast,  neither  his  image,  and  re- 
ceived not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead  and  upon 
their  hand;  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ 
a  thousand  years.  The  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  until 
the  thousand  years  should  be  finished.  This  is  the 
first  resurrection.  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath 
part  in  the  first  resurrection :  over  these  the  second 
death  hath  no  power ;  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God 
and  of  Christ,  and  shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand 
years." 

The  whole  controversy  hinges  on  the  inter- 
pretation of  this  passage.  Is  the  resurrection  which 
is  here  spoken  of  to  be  a  literal  or  a  figurative  resur- 
rection? Will  there  be  a  bodily  resurrection  of  some 
of  the  righteous,  at  least  a  thousand  years  before  the 
resurrection  of  the  last  great  day?  Pre-Millennialists 
insist  upon  a  literal  interpretation  of  this  passage. 
Liiteralness  pervades  the  whole  Pre-M,i(llennial  sys- 
tem. They  are  driven  to  it  in  order  to  maintain  the 
semblance  of  consistency.  And  they  cling  to  it  even 
when  it  forces  them  to  teach  the  monstrous  doctrine 
that,  in  the  Millennium,  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  the 
Old  Dispensation  will  be  offered  for  sin. 

Now  there  are  certain  presumptions  against  the 
literal  interpretation  of  this  passage  in  Revelation,  and 


IS    IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  L'l 

they  ought  to  be  noted  before  the  proof  is  adduced  to 
show  that  a  literal  interpretation  destroys  the  harmony 
of  Scripture.  First  of  all,  if  it  be  true,  as  Mr.  Sun- 
day affirms,  that  the  Second  Coming  of  Christ  is  men- 
tioned more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  times  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  it  not  strange  that  only  one  pass- 
age should  even  hint  at  this  important  aspect  of  the 
Second  Coming?  Again,  such  an  interpretation  neces- 
sitates a  belief  in  at  least  tzvo  physical  resurrections. 
Scripture  never  speaks  of  two  deaths  or  of  two  resur- 
rections, in  the  same  sense. 

Furthermore,  if  the  Pre-Millennial  view  of  the 
Second  Coming  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  doctrine  of 
revelation,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  somewhere 
in  Scripture  there  will  be  found  a  clear  and  unam- 
biguous statement  of  the  doctrine.  The  Pre-Millen- 
nialist  will  reply : —  "Revelation  XX  14-6  is  a  clear  and 
unambiguous  statement."  But  manifestly  it  is  not.  If 
it  is  a  clear  and  unambiguous  statement  of  the  Pre- 
Millennial  doctrine,  how  does  it  come  that  it  has  never 
found  its  way  into  the  creed  of  the  Church?  How 
does  it  come  that  the  ablest  theologians  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  have  rejected  it?  How  does  it  come  that  Pre- 
Millennialists  differ  so  widely  among  themselves  as 
to  the  import  of  the  passage?  That  they  do  differ 
among  themselves  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be  denied. 
Some  say  that  only  the  martyrs  are  to  be  raised  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Millennium ;  others  include  the 
faithful  witnesses  of  all  previous  ages.  Mr.  Sunday 
limits  this  resurrection  to  those  who  have  laid  down 
their  lives  between  Pentecost  and  the  "Rapture." 
Some  contend  that  the  saints  will  reign  with  Christ 
"in  the  air" ;  others  are  just  as  certain  that  Christ  and 


22      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

the  saints  will  reign  in  visible  form  at  Jerusalem.  If 
this  passage  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  clear  statement  of 
the  Pre-Millennial  view,  the  Pre-Millennialists  at 
least  ought  themselves  to  be  able  to  agree  as  to  its 
import.  Suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  itself  rested  upon  such  an  insecure 
foundation,  what  would  it  be  worth  to  the  believer? 

These  considerations  do  not  of  course,  constitute 
absolute  proof  that  the  literal  interpretation  of  the 
passage  is  wrong.  They  are  not  presented  as  proof. 
They  are  presented  as  presumptions  of  which  every 
student  of  the  passage  will  do  well  to  take  note.  The 
proof  is  furnished  by  the  internal  evidence,  and  by 
other  portions  of  Scripture  which  throw  light  upon 
the  entire  passage. 

It  is  admitted  that  if  we  interpret  this  passage 
literally,  we  are  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
will  be  a  physical  resurrection  of  some  of  the  saints 
one  thousand  years  before  the  general  resurrection. 
But  if  we  are  to  understand  the  resurrection  as  a 
literal,  bodily  resurrection,  we  must,  in  accordance 
with  sound  principles  of  interpretation,  regard  the 
whole  context  literally.  If  the  "resurrection"  is  liter- 
al, the  "thousand  years"  must  be  regarded  as  ten 
hundred  years  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days 
each.  The  reign  of  Christ  and  of  the  saints  will  thus 
be  limited.  It  will  come  to  an  end  at  a  given  time. 
Christ  and  the  saints  will  give  way  to  the  reign  of 
Satan  "for  a  little  time"  at  least. 

Not  to  raise  the  question  of  the  time  when 
Christ  shall  begin  to  reign,  Scripture  teaches  that 
when  Christ  does  take  the  throne  he  will  sit  upon  it 
forever.     "Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  of 


IS    IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  23 

peace  there  shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David, 
and  upon  his  kingdom,  to  establish  it,  and  to  uphold 
it  with  justice  and  with  righteousness  from  hence- 
forth even  forever."*  Again,  we  may  inquire,  what 
becomes  of  these  saints  whose  bodies  are  said  to  be 
raised,  when  the  end  of  the  Millennium  comes?  If 
they  cease  at  this  time' to  reign  with  Christ,  they  must 
also  cease  to  live — for  both  reigning  and  living  are 
limited  to  "a  thousand  years." 

Then  there  is  the  expression  "the  souls  of  them 
that  had  been  beheaded."  If  the  "resurrection"  is 
literal,  and  if  the  "thousand  years"  are  literal  years, 
the  "beheading"  must  be  literal.  Are  we  to  conclude 
that  only  those  who  have  been  "beheaded"  are  to  be 
raised  up  at  this  time  ?  If  so  it  will  be  a  very  limited 
number.  The  Pre-Millennialist,  however,  points  to 
the  further  description  that  is  given — "such  as  wor- 
shipped not  the  beast  (a  literal  "beastf'?),  neither  his 
image,  and  received  not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead 
and  upon  their  hand."  This,  he  says,  includes  more 
than  the  number  of  those  who  were  "beheaded"  as 
martyrs.  But  does  it  not  become  too  inclusive  to  suit 
the  Pre-Millennial  view?  Does  it  not  include  all  the 
saints  who  die  before  the  "Rapture?"  Can  we  be- 
lieve that  any  man  is  ever  to  be  raised  in  glory  who 
receives  the  "mark  of  the  beast"  in  his  forehead?  Is 
it  not  true  of  every  witness  for  Christ  that  he  "re- 
ceived not  the  mark  of  the  beast  in  his  forehead?"  So 
if  the  passage,  be  interpreted  literally,  either  those 
alone  shall  be  raised  to  reign  with  Christ  in  the  Mil- 
lennium who  have  been  "beheaded"  as  witnesses,  or 
all  the  saints,    irrespective    of    the    manner    of    their 

*Isa.  IX7. 


24       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

death,  will  be  raised.  Either  one  of  these  interpre- 
tations is  fatal  to  the  Pre-Millennial  view.  For  ex- 
ample, Mr.  Sunday,  when  he  preached  on  this  subject 
in  Pittsburgh,  said  that  he  expected  to  participate  in 
the  Millennial  reign.  As  a  pleasantry,  of  course,  he 
remarked : —  "Perhaps  the  Lord  will  say  to  me  'Bill, 
you  go  back  and  reign  over  that  Pittsburgh  bunch.' ': 
Dismissing  the  question  of  taste,  what  ground  has 
Mr.  Sunday  for  any  hope  that  he  will  be  allowed  to 
participate  in  the  Millennial  reign?  Not  all  the  saints 
will  be  raised.  He  himself  has  settled  that  question. 
But,  as  we  have  shown  above,  either  all  will  be 
raised  or  only  those  who  have  been  "beheaded"  as 
witnesses.  To  these  are  to  be  added  any  saints  who 
may  still  be  on  earth,  when  the  "Rapture"  takes 
place.  Mr.  Sunday  rejects  the  interpretation  that  all 
will  be  raised ;  we  cannot  believe  that  he  hopes  to  be 
"beheaded" ;  and  even  Lloyds  would  refuse  to  write 
him  a  policy  with  the  "Rapture"  as  the  terminus  ad 
quern. 

Moreover,  if  we  interpret  this  passage  literally 
and  read  into  it  nothing  more  than  John  has  said, 
where  is  there  any  mention  of  a  bodily  resurrection? 
John  says  he  saw  the  "souls"  and  "they  lived."  It  is 
not  at  all  necessary,  according  to  the  Christian  faith, 
to  conclude  that  because  the  soul  is  alive  that  the 
body  has  been  raised.  "God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  living."  Lazarus  and  Abraham  were 
"living"  in  glory  but  their  bodies  are  still  in  the  dust. 
John  is  speaking  of  "souls"  and  he  says  "they  lived," 
not  that  they  "began  to  live."  It  is  hard  to  see  how 
a  literalist  (and  all  Pre-Millennialists  are  literalists), 
can  conjure  the  idea  of  a  physical  resurrection  from 
this  passage. 


IS   IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  25 

There  is  also  a  problem  for  the  literalist  in  the 
word  "judgment."  What  is  meant  by  "judgment"? 
If  we  use  the  book  of  Revelation  as  a  commentary, 

we   may    discover    the    meaning    in    Rev.    VI  :g, 

"And  when  he  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under- 
neath the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  had  been  slain 
for  the  word  of  God  and  for  the  testimony  they  held: 
and  they  cried  with  a  great  voice,  saying,  How  long, 
O  Master,  the  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth?" 

The  "souls"  of  these  martyrs  cried  for  vengeance 
upon  those  that  had  slain  them.  And  it  may  be  noted 
in  passing,  these  "souls"  were  alive  even  before  the 
mention  of  the  Millennium  in  chapter  XX.  Now  in 
chapter  XX  "Judgment  was  given  unto  them."  If 
the  "judgment"  that  was  given  unto  them  is  to  be 
interpreted  as  literal  vengeance  upon  those  who  shed 
the  blood  of  these  saints  when  they  were  in  the  flesh, 
and  if  the  saints  are  to  be  raised  and  clothed  with 
physical  bodies  in  order  that  they  may  inflict  that 
vengeance  upon  their  executioners,  does  it  not  follow 
that  the  erstwhile  executioners  themselves  must  be 
raised  at  the  same  time,  so  that  they  may  become  the 
objects  of  the  literal  vengeance?  If  Paul  is  to  be 
raised  up  to  take  vengeance  upon  his  executioner, 
does  it  not  follow  that  Nero  will  have  to  be  raised 
as  well  as  Paul?  If  Nero  is  not  to  be  raised,  it  were 
better  for  Paul  to  remain  in  the  spirit  world  where 
his  opportunities  for  taking  vengeance  on  the  disem- 
bodied spirit  of  Nero  would  be  vastly  superior.  But 
the  Pre-Millennialist  denies  that  any  wicked  men  are 
to  be  raised  at  the  beginning  of  the  Millennium. 

Any  student  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  ought  to 


26      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

know  that  when  he  begins  to  interpret  it  literally  he 
is  on  dangerous  ground.  Revelation  is  the  "picture 
book"  of  the  Bible  and  we  cannot  interpret  Scripture 
by  the  pictures ;  we  must  rather  interpret  the  pictures 
by  Scripture.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  literal 
interpretation  of  this  passage  are  insurmountable. 
On  the  other  hand  a  figurative  interpretation  har- 
monizes completely  with  all  other  scripture.  John  is 
speaking  of  martyrs  who  were  faithful  and  who  were 
slain  for  the  testimony  which  they  held.  While  in 
the  flesh  they  had  been  quickened  by  the  Spirit, 
they  had  participated  in  the  "first  resurrection" — they 
had  passed  from  spiritual  death  unto  spiritual  life. 
They  were  possessors  of  eternal  life.  John  saw  these 
"souls,"  and  he  saw  that  "they  lived."  They  were 
not  in  the  body.  John  does  not  say  that  he  saw  them 
in  bodily  form.  They  were  living  "souls"  before  the 
throne  of  Christ.  It  is  plain  that  they  had  had 
a  part  in  the  first  resurrection,  an  experience  without 
which  it  is  impossible  to  be  a  believer  at  all.  Now 
Regeneration,  as  everybody  knows,  is  referred  to  fre- 
quently in  the  New  Testament  under  the  figure  of 

the    "Resurrection."      Romans    VI  -.4, "We    were 

buried  therefore  with  him  through  baptism  unto 
death :  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead 
through  the  glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  also  might 
walk  in  newness  of  life."  Paul,  who  was  then  living, 
wrote  to  the  Christian  Romans,  who  were  then  living, 
"We  were  buried  with  him  through  baptism  unto 
death  .  .  .  that  we  might  walk  (now)  in  newness  of 
life."  Paul  and  these  Romans  had  never  experienced 
physical  death  but  they  had  been  "raised"  to  "new- 
ness of  life"  through  Christ.     He  speaks  also  of  the 


IS   IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  27 

gathering  in  of  the  Gentiles  as  "life  from  the  dead." 
He  can  mean  nothing  other  than  their  conversion. 
Col.  Ill  :i, — "If  you  then  were  raised  together  with 
Christ,  seek  the  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ 
is,  seated  on  the  right  hand  of  God."  How  shall  we 
understand  the  language  of  Christ  in  the  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son  unless  we  interpret  it  figurative- 
ly.— "This  my  son  was  dead  and  is  alive  again." 

Or  turn  to  John  V  125.  Christ  says  : —  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  hour  cometh,  and  now  is, 
when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God; 
and  they  that  hear  shall  live."  Notice  that  expression, 
"and  now  is."  Christ  is  speaking  of  a  resurrection — 
the  "first  resurrection" — which  was  then  taking  place 
in  the  lives  of  those  that  were  being  born  into  the 
Kingdom.  Peter  and  James  and  John  experienced  "the 
first  resurrection."  But  they  were  to  die — they  were 
to  taste  of  physical  death.  When  they  died,  however, 
the  "second  death,"  spiritual  death,  had  no  power  over 
them,  because  they  had  triumphed  over  spiritual  death 
in  the  "first  resurrection."  Xow  the  "souls"  which 
John  saw  in  his  vision  were  "souls"  which  had  expe- 
rienced the  "first  resurrection."  He  says  of  these 
souls,  "they  lived  and  reigned."  This  explains  the 
meaning  of  the  "first  resurrection." 

Then  he  says,  "The  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not 
until  the  thousand  years  should  be  finished."  "The 
rest  of  the  dead,"  manifestly,  are  the  wicked.  The 
implication  is  that  they  were  to  live  again  when  "the 
thousand  years  should  be  finished." 

They  must  "live,"  however,  in  the  same  sense  in 
wThich  the  "souls"  that  John  saw  are  said  to  live.  The 
original  word  is  the  same  in  both  expressions.     The 


2S      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

two  expressions  "lived"  and  "lived  not"  are  in  con- 
trast. There  must  be  some  sense  in  which  the  term 
"lived"  is  equally  applicable  to  both  righteous  and 
wicked. 

Now  what  does  John  mean  when  he  says  that  cer- 
tain "souls"  "lived"  and  the  "rest  of  the  dead  lived 
not  until  the  thousand  years  should  be  finished"? 
What  is  the  import  of  the  word  "lived"  in  these  ex- 
pressions ?  The  Pre-Millennialist  says  that  in  the  first 
instance  it  means  that  the  souls  "lived,"  i.  e.,  they  were 
rehabilitated  with  a  physical  body  and  dwelt  on  earth. 
But  if  it  means  a  physical  resurrection  in  the  first  in- 
stance, it  must  mean  that  the  same  thing  will  take  place 
in  the  experience  of  the  "rest  of  the  dead"  when  "the 
thousand  years  should  be  finished."  "The  rest  of  the 
dead,"  the  wicked,  must  be  raised  from  the  dead  at 
the  close  of  the  Millennium,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
"little  season"  for  which  Satan  is  to  be  loosed.  But 
that  does  not  fit  into  the  Pre-Millennial  scheme. 
While  the  Pre-Millennialists  feel  at  liberty  to  arrange 
for  any  number  of  resurrections  of  the  righteous,  they 
hold  firmly  to  the  belief  that  there  will  be  but  one  res- 
urrection for  the  wicked  and  that  it  will  not  come 
until  after  the  "little  season."  So  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  this  word  "lived"  brings  the  Pre-Millennialist 
into  conflict  with  himself.  That,  of  course,  is  no  novel 
experience  for  the  Pre-Millennialist  but  it  is  fatal  to 
his  theory.  If,  as  the  Pre-Millennialist  teaches,  this 
passage  affirms  a~physical  resurrection  of  the  right- 
eous, or  of  some  of  them,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Mil- 
lennium, then  it  affirms  just  as  clearly  that  there  will 
be  a  physical  resurrection  of  the  wicked  at  the  close 
of  the  Millennium  and  some  time  at  least  before  the 
general  resurrection. 


IS   IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  29 

Thus  while  the  figurative  interpretation  of  the 
passage  makes  havoc  of  the  Pre-Millennial  scheme, 
even  the  literal  interpretation  is  not  consistent  with  it. 
And  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  literal  interpreta- 
tion requires  an  extra  resurrection  of  the  wicked  for 
which  the  Pre-Millennial  programme  has  not  as  yet 
been  able  to  provide.  The  figurative  interpretation 
makes  sense  and  harmonizes  with  the  rest  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  the  literal  does  neither. 

Let  us  understand  the  word  "lived,"  in  both  in- 
stances, as  a  figurative  expression.  John,  in  vision,  is 
looking  down  through  the  ages  to  come.  He  is  speak- 
ing of  disembodied  spirits.  He  speaks,  first  of  all,  of 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  He  says,  "they 
lived  and  reigned."  He  does  not  mean  merely  that 
they  were  alive,  that  they  were  still  in  existence. 
There  would  be  no  point  in  making  such  a  statement 
about  an  immortal  soul.  Nor  does  he  mean  merely 
that  these  "souls"  had  been  regenerated.  He  means  that 
they  become  active  in  a  new  sphere.  They  "reign." 
How?  By  controlling  the  lives  of  men  who  are  in  the 
flesh.  The  spirit  of  these  martyrs  and  witnesses  is  re- 
vived in  living  men,  and  these  living  men,  in  turn,  be- 
come the  dominant  influence  in  the  world.  John  saw 
"thrones,"  not  one  throne  but  many.  The  spirit  of  these 
martyrs  is  reproduced  in  the  hearts  of  men  on  earth. 
Those  hearts  become  their  "thrones."  Such  an  inter- 
pretation accords  perfectly  with  the  words  of  the  angel 
to  Zacharias  concerning  John  the  Baptist : —  "And  he 
(John  the  Baptist)  shall  go  before  his  (Christ's)  face 
in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah  ...  to  make 
ready  for  the  Lord  a  people  prepared  for  him."*  And 

♦Luke  L17, 


30      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

Christ  himself  said  of  John  the  Baptist: —  "And  if 
ye  are  willing  to  receive  it,  this  is  Elijah,  that  is  to 
come."*  These  passages  show  how  the  spirit  of  a  de- 
parted saint  may  "reign"  in  the  lives  of  men  still  in 
the  flesh.  John  the  Baptist  wrought  in  the  "spirit  and 
power  of  Elijah."  Elijah  "lived  and  reigned"  in  John 
the  Baptist.  But  Elijah  was  not  re-incarnated  to  do 
it.  John  the  Baptist  did  not  lose  his  identity.  John 
was  not  Elijah,  but  he  had  Elijah's  "spirit  and  power," 
and  the  influence  which  he  exerted  was  the  influence 
which  Elijah  would  have  exerted  if  he  had  been  the 
immediate  fore-runner  of  Christ. 

And  all  through  the  centuries  this  conception  has 
obtained.  John  Huss  suffered  martyrdom  in  A.D. 
1415.  In  1522  Pope  Adrian  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Diet  of  Nuremberg,  in  which  he  said : —  "The  Heret- 
ics Huss  and  Jerome  are  now  alive  again  in  the  person 
of  Martin  Luther."  Any  one  who  can  understand 
figurative  language  at  all  knows  what  he  meant.  He  did 
not  mean  that  Huss  and  Jerome  had  been  raised  from 
the  dead  and  that  they  were  again  in  the  flesh.  They 
could  not  both  be  Martin  Luther  even  if  they  were.  He 
meant  that  the  spirit  which  animated  John  Huss  and 
Jerome  "lived"  again  in  Martin  Luther.  John,  in  his 
vision,  sees  a  time  to  come  when  the  spirit  of  the  mar- 
tyrs would  have  the  ascendancy.  It  would  be  the 
regnant  spirit  of  the  age.  That  is  what  John  saw, 
stated  positively. 

Now,  in  the  same  sense  of  the  word,  he 
says,  stating  the  matter  negatively: —  "The  rest  of 
the  dead  lived  not  until  the  thousand  years  should  be 
finished."    He  means  that  the  spirit  of  men  who  had 

*Matt.    XI:i4. 


IS    IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  31 

exerted  an  influence  for  evil  in  the  world  did  not  "live" 
during  the  thousand  years.  Men  in  the  flesh  during  the 
Millennium  refused  to  be  animated  by  the  spirit  of  men 
such  as  Balaam  and  Judas  and  Herod.  That  is  what 
makes  the  thousand  years  a  period  of  peace  and  prog- 
ress. Wickedness  is  quiescent.  Righteousness  is  act- 
ive and  dominant.  After  the  thousand  years,  how- 
ever, John  sees  a  time  when  the  spirit  of  these  unre- 
generate  men  shall  again  live  and  reign  in  the  earth. 

This  is  the  sense  of  the  word  which  is  made  the 
basis  of  the  contrast  between  "lived"  and  "lived  not." 
But  regeneration  is  the  test  which  determines  whether 
departed  spirits  "live"  or  "live  not"  during  the  mil- 
lennium. Regeneration,  therefore,  as  "the  first  resur- 
rection," underlies  the  whole  passage ;  but  the  imme- 
diate reference  is  not  to  the  characters  but  to  the 
activities  of  the  departed  righteous  and  the  departed 
wicked  in  their  influence  on  men's  lives. 

Note  how  this  harmonizes  with  what  John  says 
concerning  Satan.  In  vs.  3,  he  says  that  Satan  was  cast 

into  the  abyss,  "that  he  should  deceive  the  nations 
no  more,  until  the  thousand  years  should  be  finished." 
Then  he  says,  (vv.  7-8.)  "And  when  the  thousand 
years  are  finished,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his 
prison,  and  shall  come  forth  to  deceive  the  nations." 
"Until"  implies  that  a  time  is  coming  when  Satan  shall 
resume  his  former  vocation.  In  like  manner  "the  rest 
of  the  dead  live  not  until  the  thousand  years  should 
be  finished"  and  then,  as  the  analogy  proves,  they  do 
live,  just  as  Satan  again  "deceives."  The  spirit  of  un- 
righteousness is  regnant  now.  It  will  cease  to  reign 
for  "a  thousand  years."  Then  it  will  reign  once  more. 
Again,  John  describes  the  binding  of  Satan.    He 


32      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

says,  (vs.  i)  "And  I  saw  an  angel  coming  down  out 
of  heaven,  having  the  key  of  the  abyss,  and  a  great 
chain  in  his  hand.  And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon, 
the  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan,  and 
bound  him  for  a  thousand  years,  and  cast  him  into 
the  abyss,  and  shut  it,  and  sealed  it  over  him." 

Of  course  the  Pre-Millennialist  interprets  this  lit- 
erally. This  is  the  only  way  he  can  get  any  real  com- 
fort out  of  it.  According  to  the  Pre-Millennials  an 
angel  takes  an  iron  key  and  a  great  chain,  a  great  chain, 
presumably  an  anchor  chain,  forged  in  the  Carnegie 
Steel  Mills,  and  he  ties  Satan  up  tight  with  the  chain 
and  then  he  puts  Satan  into  an  abyss  that  has  a  lid 
on  it;  he  clamps  down  the  lid  and  then  solders  it  all 
the  way  around.  Satan  is  bound  so  tightly  that  he 
cannot  even  turn  over  to  warm  the  other  side. 

How  feeble  the  intellect  that  is  satisfied  with  a 
literal  interpretation  of  this  passage  must  be !  Where 
does  the  Bible  teach  that  Satan  is  confined  to  a  phys- 
ical body  that  may  be  effectually  bound  by  a  material 
chain?  How  long  would  a  metal  lid,  even  if  expertly 
soldered,  confine  the  Prince  of  the  power  of  the  air? 
Do  Pre-Millenialists  lock  their  doors  and  windows  to 
keep  Satan  out?  If  they  do,  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
most  of  them  have  left  the  weather-strips  off  their 
study  windows. 

Satan  is  to  be  bound,  but  how?  With  "seven 
green  withes  that  were  never  dried"?*  Surely  Satan 
is  as  strong  as  Samson.  How  is  Satan  bound  ?  Christ 
went  back  to  Nazareth  to  teach.  Matthew  says : — 
"And  he  did  not  many  mighty  works  there  because  of 


*Judges  XVI 7. 


IS  IT  PRE-MILLENNIAL?  33 

their  unbelief."*  Christ,  to  use  the  figurative  language 
of  Revelation,  was  "bound"  by  unbelief  in  the  hearts 
of  those  whom  he  taught.  Unbelief  rendered  even  the 
power  of  Christ  abortive,  at  least  for  the  time  being. 
Similarly  Satan  is  "bound"  by  the  faith  of  good  men. 
The  thing  that  renders  Satan  powerless  is  moral  rec- 
titude in  the  human  heart.  Whenever  men,  through 
the  powerful  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul, 
set  before  themselves  the  immaculate  standard  of 
righteousness  that  is  contained  in  the  ten  command- 
ments, and  agonize  day  and  night  to  be  perfect  even 
as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  Satan  is  "bound" 
in  so  far  as  those  lives  are  concerned — bound  with 
infrangible  chains  and  locked  in  his  own  place.  Satan 
might  go  to  and  fro  in  the  earth  but  as  far  as  Job's 
influence  was  concerned,  Satan  was  "bound."  Stal- 
wart Christian  character,  unyielding,  peacefully  in- 
vincible, renders  Satan  impotent.  And  when  the  spirit 
of  Abraham,  and  Moses,  and  Samuel,  and  Isaiah,  and 
Daniel,  and  Paul,  and  Stephen,  lives  and  reigns  in  the 
lives  of  men,  Satan  will  continue  to  be  "bound"  as  long 
as  that  condition  prevails.  But  when  the  spirit  of  Cain 
and  Balaam  and  Judas  and  Xero  again  becomes  domi- 
nant in  the  earth,  Satan  will  be  "loosed."  The  reign  of 
regenerate  spirits  constitutes  the  Millennium.  The 
reign  of  unregenerate  spirits  brings  it  to  an  end.  But 
it  has  been  shown  above  that  Christ  speaks  of  regen- 
eration as  a  "resurrection."  He  sets  this  resurrection 
over  against  another — a  physical  resurrection.  In  the 
mind  of  Christ,  therefore,  regeneration  is  the  "first 
resurrection."  John  describes  the  Millennium  by  say- 
ing, "This  is  the  first  resurrection."    The  Millennium 

*Matt.  XIII  :58. 


34       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

is  the  manifestation  of  the  power  of  regenerate  spirits. 
It  is  the  reign  of  the  spirit  of  righteousness.  It  is  so 
absolutely  dependent  upon  the  "first  resurrection"  that 
the  two  may  be  identified,  and  John  may  say  of  the 
Millennium,  "This  is  the  first  resurrection."  This  is 
the  outcome  of  it.  This  is  the  time  when  the  spirits  of 
regenerate  "souls"  live  and  reign"  in  the  lives  of  the 
inhabitants  of  earth.  And  then  he  adds :  "Blessed  and 
holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection." 

This,  then,  is  the  passage  upon  which  Pre-Mil- 
lennialists  have  grounded  their  system,  if  it  may  be 
called  a  system.  The  passage  contains  no  suggestion 
of  a  material  throne  at  Jerusalem,  or  anywhere  else. 
It  does  not  even  intimate  that  Christ  is  ever  to  re- 
turn to  earth  in  bodily  form  to  rule  over  men  in  the 
flesh.  Even  if  interpreted  literally  it  is  seen  to  be  in 
conflict  with  the  Pre-Millennial  view.  A  literal  in- 
terpretation of  the  passage  involves  contradictions  of 
the  clearest  teachings  of  Scripture.  The  whole  Pre- 
Millennial  movement  has  been  a  pitiful  attempt  to 
read  a  narrow,  selfish,  materialistic  Jewish  dream  into 
the  pages  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  fore-doomed 
to  failure. 

WHAT  THE  PRE-MILLENNIAL 
VIEW  INVOLVES. 

If  Pre-Millennialism  involved  nothing  more  than 
a  belief  that  the  Second  Coming  of  Christ  will  pre- 
cede the  Millennium,  while  we  could  not  agree  with 
that  view,  we  might  dismiss  it  as  a  harmless  hallucina- 
tion. But  it  involves  vastly  more.  Pre-Millennialism 
represents  a  school  of  interpretation.  The  view  of  the 
Pre-Millennialists  respecting  the  relative  time  of  the 


IS   IT   PRE-MILLENNIAL?  35 

Second  Coming  is  only  a  starting  point.  In  their  ef- 
forts to  harmonize  their  view  with  the  teachings  of 
Scripture  they  are  compelled  to  pervert  or  reject 
many  of  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith. 
That  is  a  strong  statement,  but  it  is  not  stronger  than 
the  evidence  warrants.  Their  view  cannot  be  harmon- 
ized with  Scripture,  consequently  they  are  under  the 
necessity  of  adjusting  Scripture  to  harmonize  with 
their  view.  The  implications  of  this  theory,  as  it 
touches  the  doctrines  of  the  general  resurrection  and 
the  general  judgment,  have  been  before  us  in  the 
preceding  pages. 


36      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


VI.  PRE-MILLENNIALISM  PERVERTS 
THE  SCRIPTURAL  TEACHING 
CONCERNING  THE  UNITY  OF  THE 
BODY    OR    BRIDE    OF    CHRIST. 

■"FHE  Bible  teaches  that  the  church,  the  mystical 
body  of  Christ,  will  be  complete  at  his  coming. 
Pre-Millennialists,  as  a  class,  teach  that  the  church, 
the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  will  not  be  complete  at 
his  coming.  The  pronouncement  of  Scripture  on  this 
point  is  so  plain  that  some  Pre-Millennialists  admit 
that  the  Bible  declares  that  Christ's  mystical  body  will 
be  complete  at  his  coming.  It  becomes  their  problem 
therefore  to  account  for  the  generations  of  saved  men 
who  are  to  people  the  earth  during  the  Millennium. 
If  Christ's  mystical  body  is  complete  at  his  coming, 
and  if,  as  they  believe,  men  are  to  be  saved  after 
Christ  comes,  ihow  are  these  redeemed  men  to  find  a 
place  in  the  body  that  was  already  complete  when  they 
were  born  ?  To  escape  this  contradiction  they  attempt 
to  distinguish  between  the  "body"  of  Christ  and  the 
"saved."  All  believers,  they  say,  are  saved,  but  not t 
all  believers  belong  to  the  mystical  body  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  distinction  Mr.  Sunday  makes.  He  says: — 
"The  body  of  Christ  will  be  composed  of  believers  of 
every  race  and  nation  on  earth  .  .  .  not  from  every 
dispensation.  It  had  its  beginning  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  and  will  be  complete  at  the  time  of  the 
meeting  in  the    air,    which    is    called    the    Rapture."* 

*Mr.  Sund?y,  Second  Coming,  pp.  14-15- 


IS    IT    PEE-MILLENNIAL?  37 

The  body  of  Christ,  according  to  this  statement,  is  to 
be  composed  only  of  those  who  have  been  saved  be- 
tween the  time  of  Pentecost  and  the  "Rapture." 
Moses  and  Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist  will  not  be  a 
part  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  this  is  an  extreme  view 
which  few  Pre-Millennialists  hold.  On  the  contrary 
it  is  the  view  of  the  vast  majority  of  Pre-Millen- 
nialists. It  is  essential  to  their  system.  According 
to  Pre-Millennialism  the  body  of  Christ  is  to  be  com- 
plete at  the  "Rapture."  The  "Rapture"  is  to  take 
place  before  the  Millennium.  During  the  Millennium 
men  are  to  be  regenerated  and  saved.  Men  who  are 
saved  during  the  Millennium  or  after  it  will,  there- 
fore, have  no  part  in  the  body  of  Christ.  Now  there 
are  two  facts  which  Scripture  makes  so  plain  that 
they  may  be  said  to  be  emphasized.  One  of  these 
facts  is  that  the  Church,  the  mystical  body  of  Christ, 
comprises  the  whole  number  of  the  saved.  The  other 
is  that  this  mystical  body  will  be  complete  at  his 
Second  Coming. 

Let  us  get  before  us  the  passages  which 
contain  the  evidence  on  these  points.  I  Cor. 
XV:23  : —  (where  Paul  is  speaking  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  and  of  believers)  "But  each  in  his  own 
order :  Christ  the  first-fruits ;  then  they  that  are 
Christ's,  at  his  coming."  How  many  are  included  in 
that  expression,  "they  that  are  Christ's"?  Is  any  be- 
liever of  any  age  excluded?  Will  any  one  presume 
to  place  any  limit  upon  its  scope,  except  the  limit  of 
the  number  of  the  redeemed? 

II  Thes.  1: 10, —  "...  when  he  shall  come  to 
be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  to  be  marvelled  at  in 


38      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

all  them  that  believed  (because  our  testimony  unto 
you  was  believed)  in  that  day."  Here  we  have 
the  mention  of  the  Second  Coming  and  a  specific  men- 
tion of  "all"  "that  believed."  Pre-Millennialism  is 
built  upon  a  literal  interpretation  of  Scripture.  It 
insists  upon  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Book  of 
Revelation  which  is  predominantly  figurative.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  not  asking  too  much  of  the  advocates  of 
such  a  method  of  interpretation  to  interpret  the  "all" 
of  this  text  literally.  There  is  no  figure  in  the  word 
"all." 

Eph.     V:25 27, "Husbands    love    your 

wives,  even  as  Christ  loved  the  church,  and 
gave  himself  up  for  it;  that  he  might  sanctify  it, 
having  cleansed  it  by  the  washing  of  water  with  the 
word,  that  he  might  present  the  church  to  himself  a 
glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish." 

Eph.     1 :22 — 23 "And    he    put    all    things 

in  subjection  under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  head 
over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body,  the 
fulness  of  him,  that  filleth  all  in  all." 

Col.  1: 18, — "And  he  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the 
church:  who  is  the  beginning,  the  firstborn  from  the 
dead ;  that  in  all  things  he  might  have  the  preeminence. 

The  church  invisible  is  the  bride  of  Christ,  the 
Lamb's  wife.  The  church  is  his  body.  The  body  is 
one  body.  Christ  has  but  one  Bride.  He  is  no  big- 
amist. "The  invisible  Church  is  the  whole  number 
of  the  elect,  that  have  been,  are,  or  shall  be  gathered 


IS    IT    P  It  U  -MILLENNIAL?  39 

into  one  under  Christ  the  head."  At  least  that  is  the 
conclusion  of  the  Westminster  divines.* 

There  may  be  Pre-Millennialists  who  would  be 
unwilling  to  affirm  that  Christ  has  two  brides,  but 
there  is  no  escape  from  such  an  affirmation  if  the  Pre- 
Millennial  view  be  accepted  at  all.  If  there  is  to  be 
a  "secret  rapture"  a  thousand  years  before  the  general 
resurrection,  and  if  Christ  comes  for  his  bride  before 
the  Millennium,  there  must  in  the  very  necessity  of 
the  case  be  a  pre-millennial  marriage.  But  in  Rev. 
XXI  :2  we  have  the  new  Jerusalem  presented  to 
Christ  as  a  bride  to  her  husband.  Here  is  a  second 
marriage  of  Christ  to  a  bride,  if  the  Pre-Millennialist's 
view  be  approved. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  to  disconcert  the  Pre- 
Millennialist.  He  boldly  avows  that  there  will  be  two 
marriages  and  two  brides.  In  the  "Prophetic  Con- 
ference" held  at  Mildmay  Park,  England,  in  1878,  the 
Rev.  John  Wilkinson  said: —  "The  King  of  the  Jews 
is  Head  and  Bridegroom  of  the  church.  There  is  go- 
ing to  be  another  marriage,  and  we  must  rejoice  at  it. 
....  I  think  that  we  have  two  brides — the  church 
linked  to  Christ  in  resurrection  life,  and  the  Jewish 

people  married  to  the  Lord  as  a  nation 

Thus  we  have  two  brides ;  but  if  I  have  to  give  up  one, 
it  would  be  the  church.f 

And  in  the  New  York  Prophetic  Conference  of 
the  same  year,  Bishop  Nicholson  described  the  literal 
Israel  as  constituting,  during  millennial  times,  a 
body  separate  and  distinct  from  the  church,  and  en- 


*Larger  Catechism,  Question  64. 
fMildmay  Addresses,  pp.  106,  205-6. 


40       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

joying  a  high  degree  of  the  divine  favor  and  honor.* 
The  Rev.  W.  Kelly  teaches  that  the  church  will 
be  complete  at  the  rapture  of  the  saints,  which  will 
precede,  by  a  considerable  interval,  the  commence- 
ment of  the  millennium ;  that  after  the  rapture  of  the 
saints,  no  additions  to  the  church  will  be  made;  that 
those  who  shall  afterward  be  converted  will  consti- 
tute a  body  different  from  the  church,  and  will  form 
no  part  of  the  bridal  company  of  the  redeemed;  and 
that  the  millennial  converts  will  not  be  Christians. 
He  says : —  "There  will  not  be  a  single  Christian 
(properly  speaking)  among  them."  He  also  teaches 
that  during  the  millennium  the  Jews  will  be  nearer  to 
Christ,  "Israel  being  in  the  inner  circle  and  the 
Gentiles  in  the  outer."f 

Seiss  teaches  that  the  pre-millennial  saints,  ex- 
clusive of  millennial  converts,  are  the  elect  and  bride 
of  Christ4 

James  Smith  of  Scotland,  says : —  "The  millen- 
nians  can  be  neither  saints,  martyrs  nor  the  church . . . 
the  church  is  fully  completed  without  them  and  all 
before  the  millennium."§  "There  will  not  be  a  single 
Christian"  among  the  converts  of  the  Millennium ! ! 
How  then  can    they    be    converts?      Saved    but   not 

Christian!!     Acts  IV:i2, "And  in  none  other  is 

there  salvation :  for  neither  is  there  any  other  name 


*N.  Y.  Prophetic  Conference,  pp.  60-64. 

fLec.  on  Sec.  Coming,  pp.  279-280.  Lect.  on  Rev. 
p.   131.     Second  Coming,  pp.  328,  376. 

%The  Last  Times,  pp.  217-224. 

§  Sealed  Books,  pp.  329,  425. 

tfFor  an  admirable  discussion  of  this  point,  see  Mc- 
Dill,  Pre-Millennialism  Discussed,  in  loc. 


IS   IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  41 

under  heaven,  that  is  given  among  men,  wherein  we 
must  be  saved." 

Jewish  converts  in  one  body;  Gentile  converts  in 
another  body,  and  these  separate  bodies  the  brides  of 
Christ!!  And  both  of  them  living!!  Will  they  make 
our  Lord  a  polygamist?  Will  they  brand  him  as  a 
Latter  Day  Saint? 

I  Cor.  XII: 1 3, — "For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all 
baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks, 
whether  bond  or  free;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  of 
one  Spirit." 

Rom.  XII  :5, — "So  we,  who  are  many,  are  one 
body  in  Christ,  and  severally  members  one  of  an- 
other." 

Col.  Ill: 1 5, —  "And  let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule 
in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye  were  called  in 
one  body." 

Where  in  all  the  range  of  revelation  is  there  a 
suggestion  of  two  bodies  which  are  to  be  brides  of 
Christ?  Pre-Millennialism,  at  this  point,  is  danger- 
ously near  to  the  blasphemies  of  Mormonism. 

The  union  of  all  believers  with  Christ  is  the  same 
in  essence.  Are  we  to  believe  that  there  will  be  some 
believers  who  will  not  be  admitted  to  the  mystical 
body  of  Christ?  Is  that  Christ's  design?  Does  it 
harmonize  with  that  intercessory  prayer  which  was 
offered  for  all  believers  in  all  ages? 

John  XVII  :i  i, —  "Holy  Father,  keep  them  in 
thy  name  which  thou  hast  given  me,  that  they  may 
be  one,  even  as  we  are.  (20-21).  Neither  for  these 
only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  that  believe  on  me 
through  their  word;  that  they  may  all  be  one;  even 


12       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they 
also  may  be  in  us." 

"That  they  all  may  be  ONE" ! !  That  they  may 
all  be  one  in  the  same  sense  that  the  Father  and  Son 
are  one.  Is  there  an  "inner"  and  an  "outer"  circle 
in  the  Godhead?  What  folly,  what  silly  twaddle,  to 
presume  to  run  a  line  of  cleavage  between  the  re- 
deemed in  glory  for  whom  Christ  prayed  that  they 
"all  may  be  one" !  How  can  the  redeemed  be  one 
with  Christ  and  not  belong  to  his  mystical  body?  Is 
there  to  be  an  eternal  distinction  between  the  saints 
in  glory,  determined  by  the  time  of  their  conversion 
or  the  manner  of  their  testimony  for  Christ  ?  Are  the 
physical  characteristics  of  race  to  persist  in  the 
spirits  of  "just  men  made  perfect"?  Will  these  things 
outweigh  the  fervent  prayer  of  Christ  that  all  the  re- 
deemed shall  be  one  even  as  he  is  one  with  his  eternal 
Father?  Is  that  Scriptural?  Is  it  satisfying  to  the 
student  of  the  word  of  God?  Is  it  rational?  If  there 
were  no  other  objectionable  element  in  the  Pre-Millen- 
nial  view,  this  should  be  sufficient  to  condemn  it. 

But  there  are  further  implications  which  are  no 
less  condemnatory. 


IS    IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  48 


VII.  PRE-MILLENNIALISTS 
DENY  THE  DOCTRINE  OF 
A     GENERAL    JUDGMENT. 

\X7"E  have  just  seen  that  the  Pre-Millennialist  would 
have  us  believe  that  there  are  two  resurrections 
(at  least  two),  separated  in  time  by  at  least  a  thousand 
years,  and  that  Christ  will  have  two  brides. 

The  Pre-Millennialist  also  affirms  that  there  will 
be  two  separate  judgments.  That  is  to  say,  the  Pre- 
Millennialist  denies  that  there  will  be  one,  general 
judgment  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  The  ear- 
lier Pre-Millennialists  recognized  the  fact  that  their 
theory  was  in  conflict  with  Scripture  at  this  point,  and 
they  sought  to  escape  the  conflict  by  making  the  judg- 
ment continuous  from  the  time  of  the  "Rapture"  to 
the  "last"  judgment,  which  they  find  described  in  the 
latter  part  of  Rev.  XX.  This  was  Mede's  way  out  of 
the  difficulty.* 

But  Modern  Pre-Millennialists  are  not  so  easily 
disturbed  by  a  conflict  with  Scripture.  They  revel  in 
judgments.  They  arrange  for  a  judgment  every  once 
in  a  while. 

"W.  E.  B.,"  in  his  book  on  Jesus  is  Coming,  says: 
—  "We  often  hear  Post-Millennialists  use  the  expres- 
sion 'General  Judgment,'  thereby  conveying  the  idea 
of  some  future  day  in  which  all  mankind  will  simul- 
taneously appear  before  God  to  be  judged.  The  ex- 
pression is  not  in  the  Scriptures.     Pre-Millennialists 


*Mede's  Works,  pp.  763,  841. 


14       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

believe  that  the  Judgment  is  general,  only  in  the  sense 
that  all  are  judged — but  not  all  at  the  same  time. 
.  .  .  there  will  be  four  visible  judgments,  in  the  fol- 
lowing order:  I.  The  Judgment  of  the  Saints  for 
their  works.  II.  The  Judgment  of  the  living  nations, 
who  are  upon  the  earth  at  the  Revelation.  Then  fol- 
lows the  Millennium,  which  is  one  continuous  day  of 
Judgment.  III.  The  Judgment  of  the  dead  at  the 
Great  White  Throne.  IV.  The  Judgment  of  angels, 
into  fire  'prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.'  "* 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  there  will  be  a  general 
judgment  at  a  fixed  time,  and  that  at  that  time  all  the 
dead,  both  righteous  and  wicked,  shall  be  raised  up  to 
receive  judgment  according  to  their  deeds.  The  Scrip- 
tures teach,  moreover,  that  this  day  will  mark  the 
Second  Coming  of  Christ.  The  attention  of  the  reader 
is  directed  to  the  following  passages  of  Scripture : 

Christ  says,  "Marvel  not  at  this :  for  the  hour 
cometh,  in  which  all  that  are  in  the  tombs  shall  hear 
his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth ;  they  that  have  done 
good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life;  and  they  that 
have  have  done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  judg- 
ment, "f 

In  this  passage  the  original  word  is  %pa  "the 
hour  cometh."  It  is  the  same  word  which  Christ  uses 
in  John  XII 127,  when  he  is  looking  forward  to  that 
awful  moment  upon  the  cross,  where  for  the  moment, 


*Jesus  is  Coming,  pp.  101-106.  This  quotation  is  from 
the  Third  Revision  of  the  book,  Copyright,  1908.  This 
book  has  the  hearty  endorsement  of  R.  A.  Torrey,  J.  Wil- 
bur Chapman,  A.  T.  Pierson,  L.  W.  Munhall,  D.  M. 
Stearns,  James  M.  Gray,  Prof.  W.  G.  Moorehead,  A.  B. 
Simpson,  John  Willis  Baer,  Robert  E.  Speer,  and  others. 
One  wonders  if  they  ever  read  the  book. 

fjohn  V  :28-29. 


IS    IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  45 

and  only  for  the  moment,  the  Father's  face  was  to  be 
turned  away,  and  in  contemplation  of  the  suffering  of 
that  moment  he  cries  out : —  "Father,  save  me  from 
this  hour."  There  are  other  words  in  Greek  which 
denote  "age-long  duration,"  or  "time  unlimited,"  but 
this  word  denotes  a  definite  point  of  time.  It  marks 
a  moment  of  time  that  is  as  definitely  and  as  irrevo- 
cably fixed  as  the  hour  of  the  tragedy  on  Golgotha. 
Not  only  is  there  one  day  of  judgment  in  which  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  shall  be  judged,  but  there 
is  an  "hour"  when  that  judgment  shall  be  pronounced 
which  shall  determine  the  eternal  destiny  of  every 
man. 

Paul  says : —  "The  times  of  ignorance  therefore 
God  overlooked;  but  now  he  commandeth  men  that 
they  should  all  everywhere  repent ;  inasmuch  as  he 
hath  appointed  a  day  in  which  he  will  judge  the  world 
in  righteousness  by  the  man  whom  he  hath  ordained ; 
whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  to  all  men,  in  that 
he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."* 

Paul  affirms  that  there  is  a  time,  an  appointed 
day,  when  the  whole  world  shall  be  judged.  This  ap- 
pointed day  is  set,  as  the  context  shows,  for  the  judg- 
ment of  "all  everywhere."  It  would  be  hard  to  con- 
struct a  statement  that  would  be  more  specific  or  more 
inclusive.  It  would  be  harder  still  to  reconcile  this 
statement  with  the  "four  judgments"  of  "W.  E.  B.," 
or  even  with  the  two  judgments  of  the  more  rational 
Pre-Millennialists. 

Any  view  which  regards  the  judgment  as  an  event 
that  will  continue  for  a  millennium,  or  which  requires 


♦Acts  XVII:30-3i. 


16       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

us  to  believe  that  there  will  be  successive  judgments, 
separated  by  a  millennium,  or  by  any  other  period  of 
time,  or  which  fixes  the  time  of  the  judgment  at  any 
other  moment  than  the  final  appearing  of  Christ,  in 
the  Second  Coming  at  the  end  of  the  world,  is  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  the  Word  of  God.  It  has  been 
shown  that  all  of  these  things  may  be  charged  against 
Pre-Millennialism.     It  is,  therefore,  unscriptural. 


IS    IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  47 


VIII.  PRE-MILLENIALISM 
POSITS  THE  RESTORATION 
OF  MATERIAL  SACRIFICES. 

IF  the  reader  has  access  to  the  diagram  which  is  pre- 
pared by  G.  Campbell  Morgan,  he  may  note  that 
a  red  line  is  drawn  across  the  period  covered  by  the 
Old  Dispensation,  and  that  it  terminates  at  the  Cruci- 
fixion. From  this  point  to  the  "Rapture,"  or  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Millennium,  the  red  line  disappears. 
In  the  period  of  the  Millennium,  however,  the  red  line 
re-appears.  This  red  line,  in  this  diagram,  represents 
the  bloody  sacrifice  of  the  Old  Dispensation.  The 
re-appearance  of  this  red  line  in  the  Millennium  is  a 
declaration  that  the  Temple  service,  with  all  its  ap- 
pointments, with  the  veil,  the  holy  place,  the  holy  of 
holies,  the  altars,  and  with  the  sacrifices  of  rams  and 
goats  and  bullocks  and  pigeons,  will  again  be  set  up  in 
Jerusalem.  It  signifies  a  belief  that  the  priests  of  the 
order  of  Aaron  will  stand  again  at  the  altars  to  offer 
material  sacrifices  for  their  own  sins  and  for  the  sins 
of  the  people.  That  is  Pre-Millennialism,  as  set  forth 
by  the  ablest  and  sanest  of  its  advocates. 

One  cannot  but  think  that  it  was  with  much  seri- 
ous misgiving  that  this  popular  and,  in  many  respects, 
able  expositor  drew  the  red  line  through  the  period 
of  the  Millennium,  thus  indicating  the  return  of  the 
New  Testament  church  to  the  "weak  and  beggarly 
elements."  Why  did  he  do  it?  He  did  it  because 
this  is  the  logical  and  inescapable  conclusion  to  which 


18      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

every  man  must  come  who  adopts  the  Pre-millennial 
view  of  the  Second  Coming.  There  is  this  to  be  said 
for  Dr.  Morgan,  however:  he  seems  to  be  heartily 
ashamed  of  Pre-Millennialism,  even  though  he  allows 
himself  to  be  numbered  among  its  exponents.  It  will 
profit  the  reader  to  compare  the  sober  statements  in 
Morgan's  Sunrise  with  the  vacuous  ebulliency  of 
"W.  E.  B."  Dr.  Morgan  is  the  only  Pre-Millennialist 
whom  the  writer  of  this  pamphlet  has  ever  heard  talk 
for  thirty  minutes  upon  a  Bible  theme  without  ex- 
ploiting his  obsession.  But  the  fact  remains  that  it  is 
his  conclusion  and  the  conclusion  of  Pre-Millennialism 
that  the  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Dispensation  will  again 
be  offered  for  sin. 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  point  the  reader  to  some 
passages  of  Scripture  which  are  absolutely  irreconcil- 
able with  such  a  view. 

Eph.  11:13-16,  "But  now  in  Christ  Jesus 
ye  that  once  were  far  off  are  made  nigh  in  the 
blood  of  Christ.  For  he  is  our  peace,  who  made 
both  one,  and  brake  down  the  middle  wall  of  parti- 
tion, having  abolished  in  his  flesh  the  enmity,  even 
the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances ; 
that  he  might  create  in  himself  of  the  two  one  new 
man,  so  making  peace ;  and  might  reconcile  them  both 
in  one  body  unto  God  through  the  cross,  having  slain 
the  enmity  thereby."  "The  law  of  commandments 
contained  in  ordinances"  was  abolished  by  Christ 
upon  the  cross — abolished  forever. 

Or  turn  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  whole 
argument  of  the  epistle  is  designed  to  show  that  the 
types  of  the  Old  Dispensation  had  served  their  pur- 
pose, and  that  with  the  coming  of  Christ  there  was  "a 


IS   IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  49 

disannulling  of  a  foregoing  commandment  because  of 
its  weakness  and  unprofitableness  (for  the  law  made 
nothing  perfect),  and  a  bringing  in  thereupon  of  a 
better  hope,  through  which  we  draw  nigh  unto  God."* 
The  "commandment"  concerned  "carnal  ordinances, 
imposed  until  a  time  of  reformation. "y  The  com- 
mandment as  to  the  observance  of  the  ordinances  of 
the  sanctuary  was  "disannulled"  because  of  "its 
zveakness  and  unprofitableness/'  What  reason  have 
we  to  expect  that  it  will  be  restored? 

But  let  us  look  at  Chapter  X,  where  the  evidence 
is  absolutely  conclusive.  (I  use  italics  in  place  of  ex- 
tended comment.) 

"For  the  law  having  a  shadow  of  the  good 
things  to  come,  not  the  very  image  of  the 
things,  can  never  with  the  same  sacrifices 
year  by  year,  which  they  offer  continually, 

make  perfect   them   that    draw    nigh 

For  it  is  impossible  that  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  goats  should  take  away  sins.  Where- 
fore when  he  cometh  into  the  world,  he 
saith, 

Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  wouldest  not, 
But  a  body  didst  thou  prepare  for  me ; 
In  whole  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices 
for  sin  thou  hadst  no  pleasure: 
Then  said  I,  Lo,  /  am  come 
(In  the  roll  of  the  book  it  is  written  of 
me) 

To  do  thy  will,  O  God. 
Saying  above,   Sacrifices  and   offerings  and 

*Heb.  VII:i8-i9. 
tHeb.  IX:  10. 


50       THE  SECOND    COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

whole  burnt  offerings  for  sin  thou  zvouldest 
not,  neither  hadst  pleasure  therein  (the 
which  are  offered  according  to  the  law), 
then  hath  he  said,  Lo,  I  am  come  to  do  thy 
will.  He  taketh  away  the  first,  that  he  may 
establish  the  second.  By  which  will  we  have 
been  sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all.  And  every 
priest  indeed  standeth  day  by  day  minister- 
ing and  offering  oftentimes  the  same  sacri- 
fices, the  which  can  never  take  azvay  sins: 
but  he,  when  he  had  offered  one  sacrifice 
for  sins  for  ever,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand 
of  God;  henceforth  expecting  till  his  enemies 
be  made  the  footstool  of  his  feet.  For  by 
one  offering  he  hath  perfected  for  ever  them 
that  are  sanctified.  And  the  Holy  Spirit 
also  beareth  witness  to  us;  for  after  he  hath 
said, 

This  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make 

with  them 

After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord : 

I  will  put  my  laws  on  their  heart, 

And  upon  their  mind  also  will  I  write 

them;  then  saith  he, 

And  their  sins  and  their  iniquities  I  will 

remember  no   more. 

Now  where  remission  of  these  is,  there 

is  no  more  offering  for  sin." 
In  all  time,  and  in  all  eternity,  there  shall  never 
again  be  offered  a  bloody  sacrifice  that  is  acceptable 
to  God.    "There  is  no  more  offering  for  sins."   Hence- 
forth "the  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit:     A 


IS  IT   PRE-MILLENNIAL?  51 

broken  and  a  contrite  heart,     O  God,  thou  wilt  not 
despise."*     Could  language  make  it  plainer? 

Paul's  language  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is 
peculiarly  applicable  to  the  Pre-Millennialists  at  this 
point. 

"So  we  also,  when  we  were  children,  were 
held  in  bondage  under  the  rudiments  of  the  world: 
but  when  the  fulness  of  the  time  came,  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  born  of  a  woman,  born  under  the  law, 
that  he  might  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law, 
that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons.  And  be- 
cause ye  are  sons,  God  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his 
Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father.  So  that 
thou  art  no  longer  a  bondservant,  but  a  son;  and  if 
a  son,  then  an  heir  through  God.  Howbeit  at  that 
time,  not  knowing  God,  ye  were  in  bondage  to  them 
that  by  nature  are  no  gods :  but  now  that  ye  have 
come  to  know  God,  or  rather  to  be  known  by  God, 
how  turn  ye  back  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly 
rudiments,  whereunto  ye  desire  to  be  in  bondage  over 
again  f'-f 

There  are  just  two  sects  that  look  for  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Old  Testament  sacrifices :  One 
of  these  is  composed  of  orthodox,  unconverted  Jews ; 
the  other  comprises  the  Pre-Millennialists.  Both  are 
in  essential  opposition  to  the  whole  tenor  and  import 
of  the  New  Testament,  as  well  as  to  the  most  specific, 
the  most  explicit,  and  the  most  perspicuous  statements 
that  have  ever  issued  from  the  pen  of  inspiration. 


*Ps.  LI:i7- 
fGal.  IV:3-9- 


52       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHEIST. 


IX.  PRE-MILLENNIALISM 
INVOLVES  A  SECOND 
HUMILIATION  OF  CHRIST. 

DAUL,  after  he  has  described  the  humiliation  of 
Christ  in  that  classical  passage  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians,  says :  "Wherefore  also  God  highly 
exalted  him,  and  gave  unto  him  the  name  which  is 
above  every  name;  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and  things  on 
earth  and  things  under  the  earth,  and  that  every 
tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father."* 

This  looks  forward  to  the  time  when  all  things 
shall  be  "subjected  to  him."  "But  now  we  see  not 
yet  all  things  subjected  to  him."f  A  time  of  restora- 
tion is  contemplated.  And  Peter  says  of  Christ  in 
view  of  this  restoration,  "whom  the  heaven  must  re- 
ceive until  the  times  of  restoration  of  all  things. "$ 

The  days  of  Christ's  humiliation  are  ended.  His 
ascension  was  followed  by  the  enthronement.  He  sits 
today  upon  the  great  white  throne.  He  is  clothed 
with  majesty  and  with  power.  Around  about  that 
throne  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thou- 
sands of  thousands  are  saying  with  a  great  voice: — 
"Unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the 
Lamb,  be  the  blessing,  and  the  honor,  and  the  glory, 


*Philipp.  II:9-n. 
tHeb.  11:8. 
JActs  III:2i. 


IS    IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  53 

and  the  dominion,  for  ever  and  ever."*  That  throne 
shall  never  be  vacant.  That  song  of  praise  shall 
never  cease.  "Jehovah  saith  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou 
at  my  right  hand,  Until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy 
footstool.f  Christ  has  been  exalted.  It  is  the  divine 
decree  that  he  shall  sit  at  the  Father's  right  hand  until 
every  enemy  has  been  put  under  his  feet. 

Now  the  Pre-Millennial  doctrine  is  that  Christ 
is  to  leave  his  place  upon  the  throne,  that  he  is  to 
descend  to  earth  and  sit  upon  a  material  throne  which 
is  to  be  located  at  Jerusalem,  and  that  from  that 
throne  he  is  to  reign  over  men  who  are  in  the  flesh, 
over  men  who  will  refuse  to  recognize  him  as  King, 
who  will  scoff  and  mock  and  shout  with  scorn,  "Hail ! 
thou  King  of  the  Jews."  Pre-Millennialism  teaches 
that  the  enthroned  Mediator  is  to  ride  forth  to  battle 
with  the  hosts  of  wickedness ;  that  he  is  to  sit  upon  a 
horse  and  ride  at  the  head  of  his  troops  in  a  great 
battle  and  that  after  a  thousand  years  of  triumph  he 
shall  see  Satan  mount  the  throne  and  rule  over  the 
world  for  "a  little  season."  It  teaches  that  Christ  must 
yet  win  his  kingdom  in  a  terrific  battle  in  which  he 
shall  again  be  exposed  to  the  darts  and  slings  and 
spears  of  the  enemy.  It  teaches  that  the  saints  shall 
go  forth  with  him  into  this  conflict  to  wield  material 
weapons  against  the  hosts  of  Satan. 

It  cannot  be  so.  "Put  up  thy  sword"  is  what  the 
Scripture  teaches.  "For  our  wrestling  is  not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  the  principalities,  against 
the  powers,  against  the  world-rulers  of  this  darkness. 


*Rev.  V:i3. 
tPs.  CX:i. 


54       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

against  the  spiritual  hosts  of  wickedness  in  the 
heavenly  places."* 

The  only  weapons  given  to  the  Church  for  the 
subjugation  of  the  world  for  Christ  are  the  girdle  of 
truth,  the  breastplate  of  righteousness,  the  shoes  of 
the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  the  shield  of 
faith,  the  helmet  of  salvation  and  sword  of  the  Spirit. 
With  these,  Paul  says,  "ye  shall  be  able  to  quench  all 
the  fiery  darts  of  the  evil  one."  This  is  "the  whole 
armor  of  God." 

Shall  Jesus  Christ,  our  exalted  Lord,  come  in 
bodily  form  to  be  the  target  of  the  arrows  or  the  bul- 
lets of  unregenerate  men?  The  gross  materialism  of 
the  Pre-Millennialist  is  revolting.  The  Son  of  God 
won  the  victory  on  the  cross.  The  last  great  enemy 
is  overcome.  The  throne  in  glory  is  his,  and  he  shall 
sit  upon  it  forevermore.  The  throne  of  Christ  is  in 
the  heavens,  and  "the  heavens  are  higher  than  the 
earth." 

Any  position  which  Christ  might  assume  on  earth, 
make  it  as  glorious  as  the  mind  can  conceive,  would 
be  a  humiliation.  And  yet  the  Pre-Millennialist  main- 
tains that  Christ  is  to  leave  his  Mediatorial  throne  and, 
with  a  comparatively  few  of  his  saints,  rule  over  a 
world  in  which  there  will  be  unregenerate  men  who 
will  oppose  his  reign.  Pre-Millennialists  teach  that 
wicked  men,  in  the  flesh,  are  to  fight  against  the  Mes- 
siah on  the  throne  at  Jerusalem. 

What  kind  of  a  conflict  will  it  be?  How  long 
would  it  last  ?  Who  could  stand  for  a  moment  against 
his  omnipotence?    Who  could  endure  the  glory  of  his 

*Eph.   VI:i2. 


IS   IT    PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  55 

presence?  When  he  comes  in  his  glory,  and  he  shall 
never  come  in  any  other  way,  "the  kings  of  the  earth, 
and  the  princes,  and  the  chief  captains,  and  the  rich, 
and  the  strong,  and  every  bondman  and  freeman" 
shall  "hide  themselves  in  the  caves  and  in  the  rocks 
of  the  mountains ;  and  they  shall  say  to  the  mountains 
and  to  the  rocks,  Fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the 
face  of  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  from  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb :  for  the  great  day  of  their  wrath 
is  come;  and  who  is  able  to  stand?*  How  long  would 
the  battle  of  Armageddon  last  if  Jesus  Christ  in  his 
glorified  body  and  in  visible  form  were  to  lead  the 
hosts  of  righteousness? 

When  John,  who  loved  his  appearing,  saw  his 
glorified  Lord  he  said :  "I  fell  at  his  feet  as  one 
dead."f  When  the  Roman  soldiers  came  to  arrest 
Christ  in  the  Garden,  we  have  this  record:  "When 
therefore  he  said  unto  them,  I  am  he,  they  went  back- 
ward and  fell  to  the  ground. "$  Will  Christ's  glory 
be  veiled  when  he  sits  on  the  throne  at  Jerusalem?  If 
it  is  veiled,  there  will  be  another  humiliation.  If  it  is 
not  veiled,  what  man  can  endure  his  presence?  A 
rebel,  with  uplifted,  hostile  hand,  in  that  presence  is 
inconceivable.  Pre-Millennialism  is  incompatible 
with  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  Christ's  exaltation. 


*Rev.  VI:i5-i7. 
fRev.  1: 17. 
JJohn  XVIII  :6. 


56      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


X.    PRE-MILLENNIALISM  DIS- 
HONORS   THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 

IT  is  not  charged  that  Pre-Millennialists  intentional- 
ly disparage  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is 
charged  that  disparagement  of  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  essentially  involved  in  the  system  which  Pre- 
Millennialists  hold. 

When  Christ  had  finished  his  work  on  earth  and 
was  about  to  ascend  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  he  gave 
to  his  disciples  the  assurance  that  he  would  send  the 
Holy  Spirit  into  the  world.  The  Holy  Spirit  came  at 
Pentecost.  Christ  said  to  his  disciples : —  "It  is  ex- 
pedient for  you  that  I  go  away ;  for  if  I  go  not  away, 
the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you;  but  if  I  go, 
I  will  send  him  unto  you.  And  he,  when  he  is  come, 
will  convict  the  world  in  respect  of  sin,  and  of 
righteousness  and  of  judgment:  of  sin,  because  they 
believe  not  on  me;  of  righteousness,  because  I  go  to 
the  Father,  and  ye  behold  me  no  more;  of  judgment, 
because  the  prince  of  this  world  hath  been  judged."* 
There  is,  of  course,  a  wide  difference  of  opinion 
among  scholars  as  to  the  exact  import  of  this  passage. 
One  thing,  however,  is  plain.  Christ  affirms  that  it 
will  work  out  to  the  advantage  of  the  disciples  and  of 
the  world  for  him  to  depart  in  order  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  come.  Christ  says,  in  effect,  "I  have  now 
finished  the  work  which  the  Father  gave  me  to  do  in 
the  world.     Atonement  has  been  made.     The  great 

*John  XVI:7-n- 


IS   IT   PRE- MILLENNIAL?  57 

work  of  convicting  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgement  is  yet  to  be  done.  But  that  is  a  work 
which  does  not  lie  within  my  province.  That  work 
belongs  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  My  work  henceforth  is  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.  It  is,  therefore,  profitable  for 
you,  and  for  all  the  world,  that  I  should  depart  in 
order  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  come  to  perform  his 
work." 

All  the  work  that  is  done  in  the  world  in  the 
redemption  of  men  from  sin,  from  the  time  of  the 
ascension  until  the  end  of  time,  is  done  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Every  man  that  is  to  be  saved  will  be  saved 
because  he  obeyed  the  voice  of  the  Spirit,  and  be- 
cause the  Spirit  applied  to  him  the  redemption  pur- 
chased by  Christ.  Every  man  who  is  lost  will  be  lost 
because  he  rejected  the  Holy  Spirit.  Whatever  ad- 
vancement in  righteousness  is  to  be  made  by  the  world 
until  the  end  of  time  will  be  the  result  of  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit.  If  there  is  to  be  a  glorious 
millennium,  which  is  to  be  characterized  by  the 
dominance  of  righteousness,  that  millennium  will  be 
the  result  of  the  labors  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  the 
reign  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  the  bodily  presence  of 
Christ,  that  is  to  characterize  the  millennium.  The 
Holy  Spirit  must  prepare  the  heart  of  every  one  who 
is  to  become  a  citizen  of  Christ's  kingdom.  "No  man 
can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy  Spirit."* 

The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  work  of 
Christ  are  distinct.  The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
to  convert  and  sanctify  and  save  men.  The  work  of 
Christ  at  his  coming  is  not  to  convert,   sanctify  or 

*I   Cor.  XII  :3. 


58      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

save  sinners;  it  is  to  judge,  reward  and  punish  men 
according  to  their  past.  Christ  is  never  represented 
in  Scripture  as  coming  again  into  the  world  to  per- 
suade men  to  repent  and  believe  and  be  saved.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  represented  in  Scripture  as  striving  with 
men,  persuading  and  enabling  them  to  embrace  Jesus 
Christ  as  he  is  offered  in  the  gospel.  That  is  the 
Spirit's  work.  According  to  the  divine  plan  it  was 
necessary  that  Christ  should  be  corporeally  absent 
from  the  world  in  order  that  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
might  be  most  effectively  done.  It  is  not  in  place  to 
speculate  about  the  reason  why  this  should  be  so. 
Christ  plainly  states  that  it  is  so. 

Now  the  Scriptures  teach  that  the  world  is  to 
be  converted  to  Christ.  But  there  is  not  a  word  in 
Scripture  to  suggest  that  the  world  will  be  converted 
by  Christ  at  or  subsequently  to  his  Second  Coming. 
The  world  must,  therefore,  be  converted  before  the 
Second  Coming.  If  the  world  is  to  be  converted  be- 
fore the  Second  Coming,  it  must  be  converted  by  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

And  the  world  is  to  be  converted  to  Christ.  "All 
the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  remember  and  turn  unto 
Jehovah;  and  all  the  kindreds  of  the  nations  shall 
worship  before  thee."*  "The  earth  shall  be  full  of 
the  knowledge  of  Jehovah,  as  the  waters  cover  the 
sea.f  Unconverted  men  cannot  serve  Christ.  If  the 
nations  are  to  serve  Christ,  the  nations  must  be  con- 
verted. All  conversion  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  time  from  Pentecost  to  the  coming  of  Christ  is 
preeminently  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.     It  is  the 


*Ps.  XXII:27. 
flsa.  XI  :g. 


IS   IT   PEE-MILLENNIAL?  59 

time  in  which  the  Spirit  is  to  perform  his  work  of 
bringing  the  world  to  Christ. 

What  is  the  teaching  of  Pre-Millennialism  on 
this  point?  The  great  mass  of  Pre-Millennialists  be- 
lieve that  the  world  is  not  to  be  converted  to  Christ 
at  all.  Some  believe  that  it  will  be  converted,  but  not 
until  after  the  coming  of  Christ.  Either  of  these 
views  involves  a  disparagement  of  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  If  we  take  the  view  of  the  majority  of 
Pre-Millennialists,  that  the  world  is  not  to  be  con- 
verted to  Christ,  we  must  deny  the  statements  of  men 
whom  the  Holy  Spirit  inspired  to  affirm  that  it  would 
be  converted.  If  we  take  the  view  that  it  zvill  be  con- 
verted, but  not  until  after  the  coming  of  Christ,  we 
practically  declare  that  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  a  failure,  and  that  Christ  must  return  to  do  by  his 
corporeal  presence  what  the  Spirit,  whom  he  sent  into 
the  world  to  "convict  the  world  of  sin,  and  of 
righteousness,  and  of  judgment,"  is  unable  to  do. 
Pre-Millennialists  must  either  deny  the  truth  of  what 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  written  or  they  must  regard  the 
work  of  Conversion  as  about  to  be  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Spirit  and  committed  to  Christ. 

Pre-Millennialists  have  much  to  say  about  the 
Holy  Spirit,  but  their  conclusions  give  rise  to  a  doubt 
as  to  their  knowledge  of  his  part  in  the  work  of  re- 
demption. If  we  may  judge  of  their  knowledge  by 
their  theory,  they  are  in  a  position  to  say  with  the 
early  disciples — "Nay,  we  did  not  so  much  as  heaf 
whether  there  be  a  Holy  Spirit."*  Pre-Millennialism 
stamps  the  Gospel,  the  Church,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
failures. 

*Acts  XIX:2. 


60       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


XI.     PRE-MILLENNIALISM    IS 
ESSENTIALLY    PESSIMISTIC. 

IT  is  a  doctrine  that  destroys  all  incentive  to  work 
for  the  reformation  of  society  or  of  nations.  It 
is  built  upon  the  principle  that  the  world  is  growing 
worse,  and  that  it  will  continue  to  grow  worse,  and 
that  there  is  no  power  that  can  reform  society  until 
Christ  comes  in  person  to  sit  upon  a  material  throne. 

For  example,  Mr.  Sunday  says: —  "Many  have 
an  idea  that  the  world  will  grow  better  and  better  until 
the  coming  of  the  millennium,  and  everybody  will  be 
converted,  and  you  hear  that  stuff  preached,  but  the 
bible  does  not  teach  any  such  trash."* 

In  the  Chicago  Prophetic  Conference  of  1886  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted : —  "The  Scriptures 
nowhere  teach  that  the  whole  world  will  be  converted 
to  God,  and  that  there  will  be  a  reign  of  universal 
righteousness  and  peace  before  the  return  of  the 
blessed  Lord." 

Moody  likened  the  world  to  a  sinking  ship.  The 
ship  itself  is  doomed.  All  we  can  hope  to  do  is  to 
get  as  many  as  possible  off  the  ship  and  into  the  life- 
boats before  the  ship  goes  down.  That  is  a  hopeless 
view.  It  is  pessimistic  to  the  last  degree.  It  is  un- 
scriptural. 

Two-thirds  of  the  Old  Testament  is  addressed  to 
nations,  and  to  rulers  as  rulers.  Nations  throughout 
Scripture  are  regarded  as  moral  persons,  subject  to 


*Sermon  on  the  Second  Coming,  p.  8. 


IS   IT   PRE-MILLENNIAL?  61 

divine  law,  and  capable  of  conversion.  It  is  prophe- 
sied that  "all  nations  shall  serve  him"*  and  that  "all 
nations  shall  call  him  blessed. "f  "All  nations  whom 
thou  hast  made  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee, 

0  Lord ;  and  they  shall  glorify  thy  name."t 

This  is  the  mind  of  Christ  when  he  says : —  "Go 
ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  bap- 
tizing them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit :  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsover  I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo, 

1  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."§ 

Nowhere,  perhaps,  does  the  weakness  of  Pre- 
Millennialism  become  so  apparent  as  in  its  interpreta- 
tion of  this  passage.  They  interpret  it  by  another 
passage  in  which  Christ  says : —  "And  this  gospel 
shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world  for  a  testimony 
unto  all  the  nations :  and  then  shall  the  end  come."|f 
This  passage  is  rendered  by  the  Pre-Millennialist  as 
though  Christ  had  said  that  the  gospel  would  be 
preached  for  "a  witness  against  all  the  nations." 

The  Bible  teaches  that  all  nations  shall  be  con- 
verted. It  teaches  that  the  gospel  shall  be  the  means 
of  their  conversion.  How  then  is  it  possible  to  in- 
terpret this  passage  to  mean  that  the  fact  that  the 
gospel  is  to  be  preached  to  all  nations  shall  constitute 
the  ground  of  their  condemnation,  and  that  it  cannot 
result  in  their  conversion?  Did  Christ  set  a  hopeless 
task  before  his  disciples  when  he  commanded  them  to 


*Ps.  LXXIIni. 
fPs.  LXXII:i7. 
JPs.  LXXXVI:9. 
SMatt.  XXVIII:  19-20. 
flMatt.  XXIV  :i4. 


62      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

go  and  "make  disciples  of  all  nations"?  Christ's 
language  contemplates  the  success  of  the  mission  of 
the  disciples,  even  to  the  point  of  conversion  and  bap- 
tism. He  did,  indeed,  warn  his  disciples  that  they 
would  meet  with  bitter  opposition  in  their  work,  but 
he  promised  that  he  would  be  with  them  "unto  the 
end."  Where  Christ  labors  with  men  no  task  is  hope- 
less. 

Some  have  contended  that  Pre-Millennialism  is 
logically  inconsistent  with  Mission  work.  Such  a  con- 
tention is  groundless.  The  great  weakness  of  Pre- 
Millennialism  is  that  its  views  of  Mission  work  are  so 
utterly  superficial.  They  would  hurry  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  a  mangled  gospel  in  a  half-hearted 
way,  with  no  hope  of  making  many  disciples,  but 
merely  to  bring  the  gospel  to  the  attention  of  the 
heathen,  so  that  the  preaching  of  it,  once  even,  in 
their  hearing  might  be  used  as  "a  witness"  against 
them  to  condemn  them.  It  would  seem  that  they  are 
so  eager  for  Christ  to  come  and  sit  on  the  throne  at 
Jerusalem  that  they  begrudge  the  time  it  would  take 
to  "make  disciples"  of  the  heathen. 

What  a  conception !  What  a  lofty  ideal !  They 
would  carry  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  in  order  that 
the  heathen  might  be  more  speedily  condemned.  Of 
course,  in  the  process,  a  few  of  the  heathen  will  leave 
the  sinking  ship  and  get  into  the  life-boat — but  not 
many — not  enough  to  obscure  the  Pre-Millennialists' 
vision  of  Christ  on  the  throne  at  Jerusalem.  Then, 
when  the  last  benighted  heathen  in  the  hold  or  on  the 
poop  deck  of  the  "sinking  vessel"  has  caught  the 
name  of  Christ,  the  Pre-Millennialist  missionaries 
with  a  few  of  the  heathen,  just  enough  to  fill  the  life- 


IS    IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  63 

boat  comfortably,  will  row  away  to  Jerusalem  to  reign 
with  Christ  for  a  thousand  years.  As  far  as  ideals 
are  concerned  one  would  be  tempted  to  choose  to  go 
down  with  the  men  in  the  ship.  "The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and 
hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  until  the  whole  was 
leavened." 

The  Pre-Millennial  theory  leads  to  the  same  pes- 
simistic conclusions  with  respect  to  the  salvation  of 
society.  According  to  the  Pre-Millennialist  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  social  application  of  the  gospel. 
If  nations  are  not  to  be  converted  until  Christ  comes, 
as  the  Pre-Millennialist  believes,  why  should  Chris- 
tians labor  for  the  enthronement  of  Christ  in  national 
life?  It  is  generally  conceded  that  there  is,  as  yet, 
no  Christian  nation  in  existence.  The  Pre-Millennial- 
ist would  affirm  that  there  never  will  be  a  Christian 
nation. 

Pre-Millennialism  is  the  grossest  form  of  indi- 
vidualism. It  aims  at  the  salvation  of  the  individual 
— nothing  more.  Christ  said : —  "Ye  are  the  salt  of 
the  earth  *  *  *  ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."* 
Salt  that  does  nothing  more  than  preserve  itself  is  of 
little  use.  It  might  as  well  be  sand.  A  candle  that 
does  nothing  more  than  illuminate  its  own  tallow 
might  as  well  be  snuffed. 

But  why  should  Christians  try  to  preserve  a 
world  that  is  fore-doomed  to  corruption?  Why  should 
they  weary  themselves  to  light  a  world  that  is  destined 
to  eternal  darkness?  The  Pre-Millennialist  is  con- 
sistent at  this  point,  if  nowhere  else.     He  is  not  con- 

*Matt.  V:i3-i4. 


64      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

cerned  about  social  regeneration.  His  sympathies 
could  not  for  one  moment  be  enlisted  in  a  movement 
to  evangelize  the  nations.  How  many  of  the  leading 
Pre-Millennialists  of  this  country  have  ever  given 
their  support  to  the  movement  to  Christianize  our 
own  nation?  They  give  their  whole  attention  to  sav- 
ing the  individual.  They  are  very  proud  of  their  mis- 
sionary enterprises  in  foreign  lands.  And  yet  how 
short-sighted  they  are,  and  how  disastrously  their 
narrow  conceptions  militate  against  the  very  ends 
which  they  are  striving  to  accomplish. 

For  example,  they  would  look  with  disapproval 
upon  any  attempt  to  Christianize  the  United  States. 
But  they  are  very  anxious  that  the  gospel  be  preached 
"for  a  witness"  against  the  Chinamen.  There  was  a 
time  when  we  thought  that  China  might  become  the 
first  Christian  nation.  But  China  at  last  concluded 
that  America  had  become  great  without  adopting 
Christianity,  and  that,  therefore,  China  might  safely 
dispense  with  the  Christian  religion  as  far  as  her 
national  life  is  concerned.  China  looked  to  America, 
and  followed  in  our  steps.  Suppose  America  had  been 
Christianized.  Suppose  we  had  written  Christianity 
into  our  constitution,  China  would  have  followed  our 
example.  Who  can  measure  the  impetus  that  would 
have  been  given  to  Christian  Missions  in  China  if 
Christianity  had  been  woven  into  the  fabric  of  her 
civil  constitution? 

If  the  Pre-Millennialist  thinks  that  the  gospel 
must  be  preached  in  all  the  world  as  a  "witness 
against"  the  world,  how  can  it  be  done  more  expedi- 


IS   IT   PRE-. MILLENNIAL?  65 

tiously  than  by  writing  it  into  every  national  constitu- 
tion the  world  around?  The  constitution  of  China 
will  reach  a  million  where  the  Pre-Millennialist 
reaches  ten.  It  is  this  narrow,  individualistic  concep- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  salvation  offered  to  the  world 
by  the  crucified  Saviour  that  is  holding  back  the  com- 
ing of  the  Kingdom  in  its  fulness  and  power. 


66      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


XII.     VIEWS  OF  THE 
COMMENTATORS. 

DRE-MILLENNIALISTS,  in  their  prolific  writings, 

are  constantly  claiming  that  the  scholarship  of 
the  Church  has  favored  their  view  of  the  Second  Com- 
ing. This  claim  is  pressed  so  persistently  that  some 
attention  must  be  given  to  it. 

Is  the  claim  that  the  weight  of  Biblical  scholar- 
ship favors  the  Pre-Millennial  view  valid? 

The  Prophetic  Conferences  usually  add  to  their 
reports  a  list  of  names  of  great  scholars  who  are 
declared  to  be  exponents  of  Pre-Millennialism. 
Merely  the  names  are  given.  No  quotations  from  the 
works  of  these  scholars  are  set  down  to  support  the 
claim,  nor  are  any  passages  cited  by  which  the  reader 
might  verify  the  claim.  These  lists  read  like  a  small 
edition  of  "Who's  Who  in  the  World  of  Biblical 
Scholarship." 

Many  who  have  no  time  to  look  the  matter  up 
for  themselves,  or  who  do  not  have  access  to  the 
writings  of  the  men  referred  to,  are  being  misled. 
And  it  is  hard  to  escape  the  conviction  that  these  lists 
are  designed  to  mislead.  The  publication  of  these 
names  from  year  to  year  has  a  sinister  look. 

The  claims  of  the  Pre-Millennialists  in  this  re- 
spect are  false.  The  name  of  John  Calvin  is  in  the 
list  published  most  recently.*    No  quotation  from  his 


♦Proceedings   of  the   Prophetic   Conference,   Chicago, 
1914. 


IS    IT    PRE- MILLENNIAL?  G7 

works  is  made  to  prove  that  John  Calvin  was  a  Pre- 
Millennialist.  His  name  is  just  set  down  as  an  ex- 
ponent of  the  doctrine.  The  present  writer  has  not  at 
hand  all  the  published  works  of  John  Calvin,  but  he 
does  have  the  monumental  work  of  Calvin — The  Insti- 
tutes of  the  Christian  Religion — which  the  Pre-Millen- 
ialists  evidently  have  never  read.  This  work  is  a  sys- 
tematic exhibition  of  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Every  statement  in  it  has  been  carefully 
weighed.  There  may  be  those  who  are  not  willing  to 
accept  it  as  the  expression  of  the  basic  principles  of 
the  Christian  religion,  but  no  intelligent  person  will 
charge  John  Calvin  with  holding  contradictory  views 
upon  any  subject  with  which  he  deals  in  the  Insti- 
tutes. Reference  has  already  been  made  to  his  view 
of  Pre-Millennialism  as  set  forth  in  the  Institutes. 
He  says : —  "Their  fiction  is  too  puerile  to  require  or 
deserve  refutation."*  Can  John  Calvin  be  fairly 
claimed  as  an  exponent  of  a  doctrine  which  he  charac- 
terizes as  a  "fiction,"  "too  puerile  to  require  or  de- 
serve refutation"? 

Their  claim  to  Justin  Martyr,  as  has  also  been 
shown  above,  rests  upon  a  text  which  was  deliberately 
mutilated  by  Mede  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  Justin 
Martyr  appear  to  say  precisely  the  opposite  of  what 
he  actually  did  say.  The  facts  are  these.  There  is 
no  trace  of  Pre-Millennialism  to  be  found  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Clement  of  Rome,  Tatian,  Ignatius,  Polycarp 
or  in  the  writings  of  any  of  the  Post-Apostolic  Fathers 
of  the  first  rank.  The  church  fathers  of  the  Nicene 
and  Post-Nicene  periods  were  unanimous  in  their  re- 


*Institutes,  Vol.    II,    Book   III,    Chap.    XXV,    sec.   V. 
1902  ed. 


68      THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 

jection  of  Pre-Millennialism.  In  the  list  of  the  op- 
ponents of  the  doctrine  may  be  placed  such  names  as 
these: —  Turretin,  Grotius,  Vitringa,  Markius,  Ed- 
wards, Owen,  the  Erskines,  Boston  and  the  majority 
of  the  Westminster  divines,  as  the  Westminster 
standards  attest.  The  attention  of  the  reader  is  di- 
rected to  the  following  commentaries  and  histories 
and  theological  treatises : —  Scott,  Henry,  Pool, 
Clarke,  Doddridge,  Ridgely,  Lightfoot,  Dick,  Hodge, 
all  of  the  great  Princeton  theologians  from  the  Alex- 
anders down  to  Benjamin  B.  Warfield,  Lardner, 
Hammond,  Hengstenberg,  Hagenbach,  Shedd,  Glas- 
gow, Barnes,  Bush,  Whedon,  Fairbairn,  The  Pulpit 
Commentary,  the  Bible  Commentary,  Milligan  (The 
Expositor's  Bible — Revelation),  James  Orr  and  a  host 
of  others.  All  of  these  reject  Pre-Millennialism.  The 
theologians  of  the  present  day  are  at  least  fifty  to  one 
against  Pre-Millennialism. 

There  is  one  scholar  of  the  first  rank  to  whom 
the  Pre-Millennialists  always  point.  Dean  Alford  was 
a  scholar.  He  was  an  able  exegete.  In  his  study  of 
the  passage  in  Rev.  XX.  he  once  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  doctrine  of  a  bodily  resurrection  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Millennium  was  affirmed.  He 
came  to  that  conclusion  with  extreme  reluctance,  be- 
cause he  was  keen  enough  to  see,  and  honest  enough 
to  admit,  that  such  a  doctrine  is  irreconcilable  with 
other  clear  affirmations  of  Scripture.  Nevertheless 
he  held  the  Pre-Millennial  view.  But  it  never  satis- 
fied him.  In  his  later  comment  on  Matt.  XXV.  he 
says: —  "I  think  it  proper  to  state,  in  this  third  edi- 
tion, that  having  now  entered  upon  the  deeper  study 
of  the  New  Testament,  I  do  not  feel  by  any  means 


IS    IT    PRE-MILLENNIAL?  69 

that  full  confidence  which  I  once  did  in  the  exegesis, 
quoad  prophetical  interpretation  here  given  of  the 
three  portions  of  this  chapter  XXV.  *  *  *  I 
very  much  question  whether  the  thorough  study  of 
Scripture  will  not  make  me  more  and  more  distrustful 
of  all  human  systematizing,  and  less  willing  to  haz- 
ard strong  assertion  on  any  portion  of  the  subject.* 

This  is  Alford's  conclusion  with  respect  to 
"prophetical  interpretation"  as  it  relates  to  the  Second 
Coming.  This  clear,  candid  statement  of  this  great 
exegete  never  finds  its  way  into  Pre-Millennial  litera- 
ture. 

The  Pre-Millennialists  claim  the  late  Prof.  C. 
A.  Briggs.  Prof.  Briggs  calls  Pre-Millennialism  "this 
ancient  and  oft-exploded  error,"  and  then  in  a  lengthy 
article  in  the  Lutheran  Quarterly  Review  he  proceeds 
to  pulverize  the  fragments.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
fact  that  the  Pre-Millennialists  themselves  publish 
this  list  it  might  be  charged  that  "an  enemy  hath  done 

this."t 

What  confidence  can  wre  place  in  men  who,  from 
year  to  year,  publish  these  names  as  representative  of 
Pre-Millennialism?  They  are  either  ignorant  of  the 
facts  or  else  they  have  intentionally  attempted  to  mis- 
lead. In  either  case  they  have  forfeited  all  claims 
upon  the  confidence  of  men  and  women  who  are  seek- 
ing the  truth. 


♦This  is  from  the  third  edition  of  1855.     In  the  fourth 
edition  we  find  "Endorsed,  Oct.  1858." 
fMatt.  XIII  :28. 


70       THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


XIII.    MODERN  EVANGELISTS 
AND    PRE-MILLENNIALISM. 

IT  is  pointed  out  that  practically  all  the  modern,  pro- 
fessional evangelists  hold  the  Pre-Millennial  view. 
How,  it  is  asked,  is  this  to  be  explained?  It  is  self- 
explanatory.  "Modern  Evangelists"  explains  every- 
thing. The  description  will  account  for  any  kind  of 
aberration.  The  popular,  modern  evangelist  plays 
upon  the  emotions.  He  depends  upon  emotion  for  his 
results.  Pre-Millennialism  is  a  doctrine  that  lends 
itself  readily  to  emotional  discourse. 

If  a  group  of  men  and  women  can  be  persuaded 
to  believe  that  in  the  very  next  moment  they  may  be 
caught  up  into  the  air  to  participate  in  a  "Secret  Rap- 
ture," or  transported  to  Jerusalem  to  sit  on  a  throne, 
they  are  in  a  condition  where  they  will  be  willing  to 
do  almost  anything  at  all  that  has  a  religious  cast. 
They  will  sign  conversion  cards  as  fast  as  they  are 
handed  out.  They  will  shake  hands  with  the  evan- 
gelist or  with  anybody.  Some  become  so  enthusiastic 
that  they  will  contribute  money. 

Pre-Millennialism  is  a  popular  doctrine  with 
"modern  evangelists."  They  would  dislike  to  part 
with  it.  Many  of  them  would  be  doctrinally  bank- 
rupt if  they  did. 

There  is,  however,  a  certain  advantage  which  the 
Pre-Millennialist  has.  This  one  doctrine  constitutes 
his  creed,  and  when  he  has  learned  a  few  passages 
from  the  Prophets  and  a  few  from  the  New  Testa- 


IS   IT   PRE-  MILLENNIAL?  71 

ment,  he  is  equipped  for  life.  If  he  is  a  preacher,  or 
occupies  that  position,  he  can  expound  any  text.  He 
is  like  the  colored  divine  who  had  a  fondness  for  dis- 
cussing infant  baptism.  On  one  occasion  he  was  given 
a  text  from  which  it  was  thought  the  doctrine  of  in- 
fant baptism  could  not  possibly  be  deduced.  The  text 
was :—  "Adam  where  are  thou  ?"  The  colored  brother 
began  in  this  way : —  "I  divide  this  text  into  four 
heads.  I.  Every  man  is  somewhere.  II.  Most  men 
are  where  they  ought  not  to  be.  III.  They  ought  to 
get  out  of  there.  IV.  Infant  Baptism.  Without 
spending  any  more  time  on  the  first  three  heads,  I  will 
come  at  once  to  the  discussion  of  the  main  doctrine 
of  the  text."  The  Pre-Millennialist  is  equally 
versatile. 


THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST. 


XIV.    CONCLUSION. 

|N  summing  up  it  may  be  said  that  it  has  been 
shown: —  That  the  Pre-Millennial  doctrine  is  of 
Jewish  origin;  that  it  was  not  the  doctrine  of  the 
Apostles ;  that  it  has  never  been  accorded  a  place  in 
the  creed  of  the  evangelical  churches;  that  it  is  based 
upon  a  literal  interpretation  of  a  passage  that  lies  in  a 
chapter  which  is  filled  with  figurative  language;  that 
there  is  but  one  passage  upon  which  the  doctrine  can 
be  based,  even  by  such  faulty  exegesis ;  that  the  doc- 
trine is  not  clearly  stated  in  that  passage  since  Pre- 
Millennialists  differ  among  themselves  at  a  hundred 
points;  that  a  figurative  interpretation  of  this  passage 
brings  it  into  harmony  with  the  teaching  of  Christ 
concerning  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment;  that 
Pre-Millennialism  perverts  the  Scriptural  teaching 
concerning  the  unity  of  the  Body  of  Christ ;  that  it  is 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  a 
General  Judgment;  that  it  posits  the  restoration  of 
material  sacrifices,  and  is  therefore  grossly  material- 
istic ;  that  it  involves  a  second  humiliation  of  our 
Lord;  that  it  dishonors  the  Holy  Spirit;  that  it  is 
essentially  pessimistic ;  and  that  the  weight  of  the 
scholarship  of  the  Church  has  been  against  it  through 
all  the  ages,  and  is  today. 

"Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  prove  the 
spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God ;  because  many 
false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world." 

*I  John  IV:i. 


